THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


PROF.  S.  F.  B.  MORSE. 


Containing  a  detailed  account  of 
the  discovery  and  practical  application 
of  certain  ancient  and  modern  inven- 
tions, together  with  the  uses  of  Art 
in  Literature,  the  Church  and  the 
Stage. 


RIUMPHS 


EN1US 


BY 

W.  SANFORD  RAMEY 

ILLUSTRATED 


A.  R.  KELLER  Co. 

PHILADELPHIA 

1893 


COPYRIGHTED,   1893 
A.  E    RAMEY 


(     II 


PREFACE. 

HE  title  of  this  book  but  vaguely  denotes  its  true  char- 
acter.    Instruction  as  to  the  finely  subtle  significance 

1       of  certain  passages,  which,  but  for  such  explanation, 
might  seem  to  have  no  particular  meaning  at  all,  is, 
of  course,  the  apparent  purpose  of  the  "  few  words  by  way 
of  introduction." 

Special  regard  to  the  "  living  interest  "  is  a  particular  feature 
of  the  contents.  Many  of  the  incidents  relative  to  the  sub- 
ject in  this  volume  have  been  taken  by  the  author  verbally 
from  those  closely  identified  with  such  interests,  and  the 
author,  during  the  time  of  collecting  material  for  the  work, 
has  visited  almost  every  city  of  prominence  in  the  United 
States.  Biographies  or  historical  reminiscences,  aside  from 
statistical  value,  possess  but  little  interest  when  culled  either 
from  the  pages  of  the  encyclopaedia  or  books  of  historical 
libraries. 

This  volume  is  not  intended  as  a  book  of  reference,  al- 
though dates  for  events  are  not  lacking.  The  work  is  rather 
a  novelty  in  the  way  of  abridgment  and  conciseness,  uniting 
in  an  unbroken  story  the  historical,  biographical,  and  statisti- 
cal elements  of  each  topic  in  the  book.  The  author  has 
especially  avoided  treading  in  well-worn  paths,  and  has  hewn 
through  the  forest  of  literature  a  new  road  that  is  at  least  in- 
teresting from  its  novel  direction,  if  for  no  other  reason. 

ix 


X  PREFACE. 

Much  of  the  color  and  flavor  of  that  great  mind-fruit,  the 
book,  depends  upon  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  ideas  have 
ripened,  the  soil  whence  the  sweet  or  sour  juices  have  been 
drawn. 

Many  literary  productions  which  we  prize  among  the 
brightest  of  our  national  glories  have  grown  out  of  human 
lives,  rooted  sometimes  in  sorrow,  sometimes  in  joy.  The 
indelible  hues  upon  the  pages  which  the  author  writes 
show  the  shifting  of  scenery  amid  which  the  inventor,  the 
artist,  the  merchant,  the  mechanic,  or  the  professional  man 
plays  out  his  fleeting  existence  in  triumph  or  defeat. 

It  may  be  said  that  there  are  three  stages  of  general 
opinions  regarding  the  development  and  realization  of  a  new 
and  novel  idea. 

1 .  The  skeptic  will  say  that  it  is  impossible. 

2.  He  will  say  that  it  is  not  practical,  therefore  not  valua- 
ble. 

3.  That  it  has  long  been  known,  and  only  needed  applica- 
tion of  certain    principles  which  many  might  have  accom- 
plished by  giving  the  matter  close  attention. 

It  is  that  consistency  of  physical  and  mental  actions  united 
at  all  times  to  battle  against  failure  in  its  various  guises 
which  chronicles  in  this  volume  not  the  defeats,  but  the 
Triumphs  of  Genius. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  29th,  1893. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

THE  JETTIES, n 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  RAILWAY  ENGINE, 26 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  MORSE  TELEGRAPH, 44 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  BELL  TELEPHONE, 63 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  CHURCH, .      82 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  STAGE, 83 

v 


VI  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PACK 

NEWSPAPER,  ........................     101 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Music  —  A  COMPARISON  WITH  PECULIARITIES,  ..........     117 

CHAPTER  IX. 
POETRY,     .........................     I3o 

CHAPTER  X. 
SUSPENSION  BRIDGE     ............  I 


CHAPTER  XL 
BESSEMER  STEEL, 


CHAPTER  XII. 
PAINTING  —  BENJ.  WEST,     ............   ......     179 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  ELECTRIC  LIGHT,     .    ,  200 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

AERIAL  NAVIGATION, 


204 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  vii 

CHAPTER  XV. 


PAGE 


FIRE  ARMS, ,,,215 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
BANKS  AND  EXCHANGES, 228 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
MECHANICISM  IN  ART. 


240 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
BICYCLES  AND  CYCLING,      250 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
ALUMINUM, 260 

CHAPTER  XX. 
EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CABLE  CAR, 270 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  PHONOGRAPH, 2g2 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
LIGHTING  BY  GAS, 293 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  XXIII. 

PAGE 

SUBTERRANEAN  EXPLORATIONS,  .........   .......    3°4 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
MINING  —  GOLD  AND  SILVER,  .................     320 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
STEAMBOATS,  ........................     34° 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
PHOTOGRAPHY,  .......    ................     353 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
SEWING-MACHINES,   .................    •    •    •    •    368 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
PRECIOUS  STONES,    .....................    3Sl 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
TUNNELS, 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
LIGHT,  ...........    ..........    -434 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PROF.  S.  F.  B.  MORSE. 

CAPT.  JOHN  B.  EADS. 

GEORGE  STEPHENSON. 

FIRST  RAILWAY  CARRIAGE. 

ENGINE  No.   i. 

THE  ROCKET. 

MOSQUE  OF  ST.  SOPHIA. 

MORMON  TEMPLE,  SALT  LAKE  CITY. 

A  MODERN  CHURCH. 

INTERIOR  MOSQUE  OF  ST.   SOPHIA. 

THE  AUDITORIUM,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  PRINTING  INGENUITY. 

SUSPENSION  BRIDGE,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 

BENJAMIN  WEST. 

DEATH  OF  WOLFE.     From  the  painting  by  Benj.  West. 

THOMAS  A.   EDISON. 

A  CONTEST. 

CRYSTAL  PALACE,  LONDON. 

ix 


CAI'T.  JOHN   ];.    I. ADS. 


THE  EADS  JETTIES. 

1       FHEN  Destiny  foreordains  a  man  to  some  great  work 
\Al       she  realizes  that  "efficiency  depends  upon  concen- 
|(y       tration,"  and  precluding  the  possibilities  of  his  cul^- 
tivating  all  the   faculties  of   his    mind,  centres    his' 
energies  upon  the  one  faculty  necessary  to  the  fulfillment  of 
his  predestined  achievements.      She   jealously   guards    him* 
from  the  broadening  curriculum  of  the  schools  and  confines, 
him  with  the  iron  manacles  of  poverty  in  a  narrow  channel^ 
forcing  his  mind  to  draw  its  succulence  from  its  own  original^ 
conceptions.     She  locks  him  up  within  himself,  and  makes-- 
poverty the  door-keeper,  and  this  stern  guardian  soon  teaches • 
him  the  futility  of  repinings,  and  sets  him  groping  about  in- 
die recesses  of  his  own  mind  to  find  the  key  to  unlock  his- 
prison-house. 

Eads  was  no  exception  to  this  rule.     Born  in  the  village  of 
Laurenceburg,  Ind.,  May  23d,  1820,  he  had  scarcely  mastered* 
the  rudiments  of  an  education  when  Destiny,  recognizing  the* 
necessity  of  withdrawing  him  from  the  expanding  influence  of 
schools,    swept   his    father's    fortune    from    his    hands,  and,, 
following  him  with  determined  steps,  burnt  the  steamer  oru 
which  he  and  his  family  had  embarked  to  seek  fairer  fortunes 
in  a  distant  West.      Stranded  in  St.  Louis  at  the   age   of 
thirteen,  the  young  James  found  urgent  necessity  to  assist  irs 


12  THE    EADS    JETTIES. 

providing  sustenance  for  himself  and  parents.  With  that 
energy  and  decision  which  peculiarly  distinguished  him  in 
after  years,  he  seized  the  first  thing  that  presented  itself,  and 
began  peddling  apples  in  a  city  afterward  only  too  proud  to 
do  him  homage  and  claim  him  as  her  citizen.  Shortly  after- 
ward he  succeeded  in  obtaining  employment  in  a  mercantile 
house ;  and  Mr.  Barrett  Williams,  the  senior  partner  of  the 
firm,  discovering  the  taste  of  young  Eads  for  mechanics,  gave 
him  free  access  to  his  library.  Seizing  with  avidity  this 
-opportunity  of  studying  the  great  principles  of  mechanics  and 
civil  engineering,  Mr.  Eads  acquired  during  the  several  years 
of  his  employment  by  Mr.  Williams  a  more  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  these  subjects  than  the  average  student  brings  with 
liim  from  academic  halls.  Abandoning  the  counter,  his  mind 
imbued  more  with  laws  and  principles  of  civil  engineering 
than  with  price  currents,  Mr.  Eads  accepted  a  position  as 
clerk  on  a  Mississippi  steamer,  serving  in  this  capacity  two 
years.  It  was  while  he  was  thus  borne  to  and  fro  on  its 
restless  current  that  he  studied  the  vagaries  and  profound 
mysteries  of  the  giant  stream  over  whose  broad  bosom  he 
was  destined  to  fling  a  highway  for  the  nations,  and  whose 
entrance  to  the  sea  he  was  to  curb  and  trace  with  the  unerr- 
ing hand  of  genius. 

In  1842,  he  formed  a  co-partnership  with  Case  &  Nelson, 
boat-builders,  for  the  purpose  of  recovering  steamboats  and 
cargoes  wrecked  in  the  river.  Mr.  Eads  had  personal 
.supervision  of  this  branch  of  the  business ;  and  though  the 
machinery  and  appliances  were  of  the  most  primitive  charac- 
ter and  wholly  inadequate  to  the  work,  he,  by  unprecedented 
-.fertility  of  resource  and  unflagging  energy,  was  so  successful 
vthat  in  a  few  years  the  wrecking  operations  of  the  firm  ex- 


THE    EADS    JETTIES.  13 

tended  the  whole  length  of  the  Mississippi,  and  their  prop- 
erty grew  in  ten  years  from  little  more  than  a  nominal  value 
to  be  worth  nearly  a  half  million. 

In  1857,  Mr.  Eads,  being  in  delicate  health,  retired  from 
business,  and  as  he  then  thought,  to  undisturbed  and  placid 
seclusion.  This  proved,  however,  to  be  but  a  temporary 
resting  on  his  oars  to  gather  strength  for  those  brilliant  feats 
in  engineering  that  make  him  one  of  the  greatest  of  Ameri- 
can citizens.  When  the  ominous  and  sullen  roar  of  the  civil 
war  first  broke  the  peaceful  serenity  of  the  Republic,  Mr., 
Eads  was  called  to  Washington,  and  on  August  7th,  i86ir 
signed  a  contract  by  which  he  agreed  to  build  seven  gun- 
boats in  sixty-five  days,  though  the  wood  of  which  they  were 
to  be  constructed  was  yet  standing  in  the  forests,  and  the 
rollers  were  not  yet  fashioned  for  shaping  their  iron  armor. 
Sternly  self-reliant,  Mr.  Eads  drew  his  assurance  of  success 
from  an  inner  source,  an  assurance  that  became  an  em- 
bodied reality  within  the  prescribed  sixty-five  days.  On  the 
1 2th  of  October,  the  gun-boat  "  De  Kalb  "  was  launched  from 
the  Carondelet  wharf,  in  St.  Louis,  the  other  six  following  in 
quick  succession.  The  splendor  of  this  achievement  was 
only  the  initiative  to  the  glory  won  by  the  iron  fleet  con- 
structed by  Eads.  By  its  aid  was  accomplished  the  brilliant 
capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  and  the  ever-memor- 
able midnight  passage  of  Island  No.  10,  which  compelled  the 
surrender  of  that  redoubtable  stronghold. 

As  a  recognition  of  his  abilities,  the  Missouri  State 
University  conferred  on  Mr.  Eads  the  degree  of  LL.  D. 
He  was  twice  elected  President  of  the  St.  Louis  Academy  of 
Sciences,  and  made  other  positions  of  honor  and  trust  were 
tendered  him. 


a  4  THE    EADS   JETTIES. 

As  late  as  1873  the  Mississippi  interposed  its  sullen  waters 
between  St.  Louis  and  its  principal  railroad  lines.  Trains 
lhat  came  to  discharge  their  wealth  into  the  bosom  of  St. 
lLouis  were  forced  to  rein  in  their  iron  steeds  a  mile  away  at  the 
Iciss  of  dark  and  treacherous  waters,  and  by  tedious  transfer 
send  forward  their  freight  to  its  destination.  Now  the  trains 
come  swinging  into  the  city  eighty  feet  above  the  turbid 
stream  on  a  track  supported  by  a  magnificent  bridge,  whose 
gigantic  footsteps  were  planted  on  solid  rock,  a  hundred 
feet  below  the  water  level,  and  whose  graceful  arches 
were  spun  from  bank  to  pier  and  pier  to  bank  by  the  energy 
^and  genius  of  James  B.  Eads.  It  is  a  monument  of  his 
-determined  purpose  and  engineering  skill,  and  is  a  graceful 
^exposition  of  new  theories  tested  upon  a  scale  of  the 
•greatest  magnificence. 

The  conflict  between  two  rival  bridge  companies  being 
•settled  by  their  consolidation,  Mr.  Eads  was  made  Engineer- 
In-Chief,  and  in  August,  1867,  he  awarded  the  contract  for 
masonry  to  James  Andrews,  of  Allegheny,  Pa.  By  the  spring 
of  1868  all  the  details  and  drawings  had  been  carefully 
compared  and  improved,  and  the  whole  structure  was  com- 
plete in  the  mind  of  the  great  engineer.  The  piers  were  to 
be  carried  through  the  sand  and  sediment  of  the  river  bed  and 
rest  on  solid  subterranean  rock.  Coffer  dams  were  built, 
and  caissons  of  iron  prepared,  on  the  roof  of  which  the 
granite  foundations  of  the  pier  were  laid.  As  the  caisson 
gradually  sunk  by  the  superincumbent  weight,  its  course  was 
.-shielded  from  deflection  by  steering  ropes,  while  fresh  masony 
was  built  above  the  level  of  the  water.  By  a  system  of  air 
locks  workmen  were  letdown  under  the  water,  and  when  the 
caisson  with  its  superimposed  pier  reached  the  river  bottom 


THE    EADS    JETTIES.  15 

the  sand  intervening  between  it  and  bed-rock  was  removed 
by  force  pumps  ingeniously  contrived  by  Captain  Eads.  The 
foundation  of  the  east  pier  found  its  rocky  resting  place 
at  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  below  the  water  level. 

The  two  abutments  and  two  piers  were  completed  in  1872, 
and  the  contract  for  the  superstructure,  the  plan  of  which  was 
as  bold  and  more  original  than  the  foundations,  was  awarded 
to  the  Keystone  Bridge  Company,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  that  for 
approaches  to  the  Baltimore  Bridge  Company.  There  are 
three  magnificent  arches,  the  terminal  ones  each  with  a  span  of 
five  hundred  and  the  central  one  of  five  hundred  and  twenty 
feet.  Each  arch  has  four  ribs  composed  of  two  parallel  systems 
of  steel  tubes  twelve  feet  long  and  eighteen  inches  in  external 
diameter,  the  whole  held  together  by  two  enveloping  half- 
cylinders  coupled  with  steel  pins.  The  tracery  of  this  net- 
work of  tubes  is  delicate  and  beautiful  as  a  work  of  art,  and 
yet  so  strong  as  to  support  a  railway  track,  along  which  fifty 
trains  daily  come  and  go.  In  conjunction  with  the  bridge  is  a 
tunnel  burrowing  under  the  heart  of  the  city,  into  which  the 
trains  disappear  after  crossing  the  bridge,  making  their  exit  at 
the  other  end  in  Union  Depot.  The  entire  length  of  the  bridge 
is  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  and  the  total 
cost  of  its  construction  ten  millions  of  dollars.  Throughout 
the  seven  years  of  its  construction  Captain  Eads  was  Chief 
Engineer  and  principal  stockholder,  and  he  is  responsible  for 
every  novelty  in  design  and  execution,  and  every  detail  bears 
the  stamp  of  his  genius.  On  the  4th  of  July,  1874,  the  great 
bridge  was  formally  opened  to  the  public  by  an  imposing 
celebration,  in  which  Captain  Eacls  was  the  hero  of  the 
hour. 

There  had  long  been  a  recognized  necessity  for  deepening 


1 6  THE    EADS    JETTIES. 

the  channel  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  The  great 
river,  after  being  for  fifteen  hundred  leagues  the  busy  inter- 
changer  of  commercial  interests,  drops  into  lazy  old  age  as  it 
nears  the  hour  of  its  final  extinction  in  the  sea.  Full  of  dash 
and  spring  in  its  early  life  in  the  far-off  North,  a  Southern 
languor  here  pervades  the  sluggish  stream.  Diffusing  its 
waters  into  three  wide  fans,  it  idly  slips  into  the  sea,  and,  as 
though  determined  that  the  industries  of  man  should  not 
crowd  upon  these  last  few  indolent  hours  of  its  life,  it  placed 
a  huge  immovable  bar  where  its  sweet  waters  first  mingle 
with  the  salt.  One  hundred  years  and  more,  men  had  been 
trying  to  make  a  channel  for  their  vessels  by  scratching  and 
scraping  at  this  bar,  but,  with  reckless  indifference  to  their 
interests,  the  old  river  kept  sifting  his  sands  back  into  the 
furrows  made  by  scraper  and  harrow.  It  needed  some 
diviner  prophet  with  diviner  methods  to  instil  into  the  slug- 
gish stream  some  of  the  elixir  of  its  youth  and  by  some 
subtle  means  induce  it  again  to  take  up  its  burdens.  Eads 
responded  to  the  call  made  by  a  hampered  commerce  and  the 
crippled  interests  of  the  two  great  cities  of  St.  Louis  and 
New  Orleans,  and  proposed  by  a  novel  method  to  compel 
the  river  itself  to  wash  out  a  channel  for  the  ingress  and 
egress  of  the  largest  vessels.  He  laid  his  proposition  before 
Congress  February,  1874,  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans  filing 
a  bill  at  the  same  time  to  open  the  river  mouth  by  the  St. 
Philip  Canal.  Captain  Eads  found  a  furious  storm  of  oppo- 
sition awaiting  him  among  the  United  States  Engineers,  and 
sectional  strife  between  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis.  The 
press  of  New  Orleans  accused  Captain  Eads  with  being  in 
collusion  with  the  great  railway  lines.  By  defeating  the  St. 
Philip  Canal  Bill  he  would  continue  the  blockade  at  the  mouth 


THE    EADS   JETTIES.  I/ 

of  the  river,  he  would  further  his  own  interests,  which  were 
centered  in  the  great  railway  bridge  at  St.  Louis,  then  ap- 
proaching completion. 

Though  Captain  Eads  gave  a  most  detailed  and  lucid  ex- 
planation of  the  groundwork  of  his  belief  in  the  jetty  sys- 
tem, the  Jetty  Bill  received  but  eighty-nine  votes  in  the 
House,  while  the  Canal  Bill  received  one  hundred  and  eigh- 
teen. The  Canal  Bill  was  hurried  into  the  Senate,  but  this 
body  decided  that  a  committee  of  seven  engineers  be  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  comparative  merits  of  a  canal  and 
the  jetty  system  for  opening  the  river  mouth.  This  commit- 
tee visited  Europe,  and  in  January,  1875,  presented  their  re- 
port to  Congress,  in  which  they  recommended  the  jetties,  as 
the  result  of  their  investigations  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  various  river-mouths  in  Europe.  Captain 
Eads  had  also  been  in  Europe  examining  the  principal  jetties 
and  consulting-  the  engineers  who  constructed  them,  and  im- 

o  o 

mediately  filed  a  new  bill  to  make  a  channel  thirty  feet  deep 
at  the  mouth  of  Southwest  Pass,  for  eight  million  dollars. 
The  bill  passed  both  houses,  but  was  amended  so  as  to  apply 
to  South  Pass,  instead  of  Southwest  Pass,  in  spite  of  all 
the  arguments  Captain  Eads  could  use.  With  sublime  mag- 
nanimity, the  Senate  informed  Captain  Eads  if  he  would  pro- 
duce the  same  width  and  depth  in  the  small  Pass  he  had  pro- 
posed to  obtain  in  a  Pass  four  times  as  large,  and  build  the 
works  for  five  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  ninety-two  thousand  one  hundred  and  ten  dollars 
less  than  was  estimated  by  its  own  Commission,  would  be 
required,  and  guarantee  its  maintenance  for  twenty  years  for 
thirty  thousand  dollars  less  annually  than  the  Commission's 
estimate  for  that  item  the  improvement  would  be  confided  to 
2 


1 8  THE    EADS   JETTIES. 

him.  Moreover,  the  first  payment  of  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars  was  not  to  be  made  till  a  depth  of  twenty  feet  and  a 
width  of  two  hundred  feet  was  gained. 

Captain  Eads  was  tendered  a  complimentary  banquet  in 
St.  Louis,  in  honor  of  his  success  in  securing  the  passage  of 
his  bill,  at  which  were  present  distinguished  and  representa- 
tive men  from  all  parts  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  In  reply 
to  a  toast,  Mr.  Eads  spoke  in  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  terms 
of  the  proposed  jetties.  "  If  the  profession  of  an  engineer 
were  not  based  upon  exact  science,"  he  concluded,  "  I  might 
tremble  for  the  result,  in  view  of  the  immensity  of  the  inter- 
ests dependent  on  my  success.  But  every  atom  that  moves 
onward  in  the  river  is  controlled  by  laws  as  fixed  and  certain 
as  those  which  direct  the  majestic  march  of  the  heavenly 
spheres.  I  therefore  undertake  the  work  with  a  faith  based 
upon  the  ever  constant  ordinances  of  God  Himself;  and  so 
certain  as  He  will  spare  my  life  and  faculties,  I  will  give  to 
the  Mississippi  River,  through  His  grace,  and  by  the  applica- 
tion of  His  laws,  a  deep,  open,  safe,  and  permanent  outlet  to 
the  sea." 

Captain  Eads,  accompanied  by  Mr.  James  Andrews, 
arrived  at  South  Pass,  May,  1875.  He  was  presented  with  a 
complete  map  of  the  Pass,  and  on  this  chart  he  drew  the 
lines  of  the  proposed  jetties.  Mr.  Andrews  was  given  the 
contract  to  construct  the  works,  his  success  in  the  St.  Louis 
bridge  and  tunnel  inspiring  Captain  Eads  with  all  confi- 
dence in  his  ability.  A  large  force  of  men  were  located 
along  the  low,  marshy  banks,  and  the  unbroken  silence  of 
centuries  was  now  startled  by  the  noises  of  the  axe  and  anvil, 
pile-driving  and  steam  whistling. 

The  jetties  are  simply    artificial    banks    constructed    on 


THE    EADS   JETTIES.  1 9 

the  bed  of  the  river,  and  the  water  thus  held  in  a  narrow 
channel,  gathers  a  new  impetus,  and  was-hes  out  by  its 
newly  acquired  force  a  deep  and  lasting  channel. 

Work  was  begun  on  the  jetties  June  i7th,  1875,  by  driving 
piles.  To  these  mattresses  made  of  willows  and  sunk  by 
stone  were  made  securely  fast.  By  an  improved  method, 
invented  by  Captain  Eads  and  Mr.  Andrews,  a  mattress  one 
hundred  feet  long,  thirty-five  feet  wide,  and  two  feet  thick 
could  be  made  and  launched  in  two  hours,  the  old  way  requir- 
ing two  days. 

The  works  were  approved  by  the  Advisory  Board  of  En- 
gineers which  met  in  New  York  September  2d  and  at  Port 
Eads  November  i8th,  1875.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year  the 
jetties  were  simply  walls  of  uncompressed  willows,  but  im- 
portant results  had  been  effected.  The  channel  had  deepened 
rapidly  from  eight  to  sixteen  feet  across  the  bar.  Friends 
and  representatives  of  the  press  in  St.  Louis  chartered  the 
"Grand  Republic  "  and  made  an  excursion  to  the  jetties,  reach- 
ing Port  Eads  April  26th,  1876.  While  the  resident  engineer 
was  preparing  to  welcome  the  magnificent  steamer  a  govern- 
ment boat  belonging  to  the  department  of  Major  Howell, 
United  States  Engineer,  suddenly  came  in  sight.  ,  Major 
Howell's  assistant  boarded  the  "  Grand  Republic  "  and  made 
the  apparently  official  and  reliable  statement  that  Captain 
Eads'  alleged  sixteen  feet  of  channel  depth  did  not  exist ; 
that  a  shoal  was  moving  out  diagonally  in  front  of  the  jetties, 
and  that  the  bar  was  moving  seaward.  Great  distrust  was 
produced  in  the  minds  of  many  on  the  "  Republic/'  and  this 
distrust  spread  rapidly  as  an  infection  among  the  friends  and 
stockholders  of  the  enterprise  so  that  it  was  said  stock  was 
offered  at  half  its  face  value.  To  restore  confidence  in  him- 


20  THE    EADS    JETTIES. 

self  and  the  jetties  and  stop  the  panic,  if  such  existed  in  the 
money  market,  Captain  Eads  immediately  wrote  to  Superin- 
tendent Patterson,  of  Coast  Survey,  requesting  that  Assistant 
Marindin,  then  at  the  jetties,  be  ordered  to  sound  the  channel, 
but  this  was  denied  on  the  ground  that  the  duty  belonged  to 
General  Comstock.  Captain  Brown,  Assistant  to  General 
Comstock,  made  a  survey  of  the  jetties,  but  refused  Mr.  Eads 
the  result,  as  he  must  first  make  his  report  to  General  Com- 
stock. Captain  Eads  then  telegraphed  Secretary  of  War  to 
instruct  General  Comstock  to  give  him  desired  information, 
but  no  reply  coming  to  the  message,  General  Comstock  left 
the  jetties,  declining  to  give  the  soundings  till  he  had  reported 
to  General  Humphreys,  Chief  Engineer  U.  S.  A.  Realizing 
the  imperious  necessity  of  having  official  certification  of  his 
own  report  and  confutation  of  Major  Howell's,  Captain  Eads 
telegraphed  Superintendent  of  Coast  Survey  requesting  that 
Marindin  be  permitted  to  give  result  of  his  soundings,  but  he 
was  again  baffled.  He  then  requested  Secretary  of  War  to 
obtain  from  Superintendent  of  Coast  Survey  a  comparative 
chart  of  soundings  made  May,  1875,  before  the  construction 
of  jetties,  and  May,  1876.  The  Superintendent  of  Coast 
Survey  denied  the  right  of  Secretary  of  War  to  ask  for  the 
chart.  Captain  Eads  then  appealed  to  Secretary  of  Treasury 
to  instruct  Superintendent  of  Coast  Survey  to  furnish  the  chart. 
This  was  refused  on  the  ground  that  provision  was  made  in 
the  Jetty  Act  that  all  information  should  be  furnished  by  War 
Department.  Captain  Eads  finally  appealed  to  House  of 
Representatives,  and  through  this  body,  after  three  months 
of  harrowing  delay,  received  the  official  confirmation  of  his 
statements  and  the  complete  refutation  of  Major  Howell's. 
The  refutation  had  come  in  a  different  way  long  before  this, 


THE    EADS   JETTIES.  21 

however.  On  May  I2th  Captain  Gayer  had  carried  his  iron 
steamship,  "  Hudson,"  drawing  fourteen  feet  six  inches, 
through  the  jetties  when  the  tide  was  six  inches  down,  still 
falling,  and  creating  a  strong  seaward  current.  "  Head  her 
for  the  jetties  !"  was  what  he  said  when  the  pilot  had  reported 
condition  of  tide,  and  on  she  came  like  a  thing  of  life,  till, 
trembling  with  her  triumph,  she  cast  her  anchor  in  deep  water 
at  Port  Eads.  Captain  Gayer  materially  assisted  the  enter- 
prise in  one  of  its  darkest  hours.  However,  official  jealousy 
and  antagonism  in  withholding  such  important  reports  from 
Captain  Eads  cost  him  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
dollars,  the  price  of  a  dyke  three  thousand  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  long  which  he  had  just  completed  and  which  he  was 
now  compelled  to  abandon.  East  Dyke  will  forever  remain 
as  a  monument  of  official  jealousy  and  antagonism. 

October  5th,  1876,  a  careful  survey  of  the  channel  showed 
a  depth  of  twenty  and  a  width  of  two  hundred  feet,  and  Mr. 
Eads  was  clearly  entitled  to  his  first  payment,  but  official  and 
legal  wrangling  deferred  it  till  December  27th.  This  sum 
was  immediately  consumed  in  paying  off  indebtedness  and 
meeting  obligations.  The  spring  and  summer  of  1877  found 
Captain  Eads  laboring  under  severe  financial  embarrassment. 
In  August  the  pay-rolls  were  two  months  overdue  and  expen- 
sive work  at  head  of  Passes  imperative.  No  more  money 
from  the  government  could  be  expected  till  the  depth  of 
twenty-two  feet  was  gained.  Messrs.  Eads  and  Andrews  had 
both  gone  North  to  raise  money,  but  not  meeting  with  success 
Captain  Eads  telegraphed  Resident  Engineer  Corthell :  "  Dis- 
charge all  the  force  unless  they  are  willing  to  work  for  certifi- 
cates payable  on  receipt  of  twenty-two  feet  payment."  The 
situation  was  briefly  explained  to  the  men,  and  only  two  out 


22  THE    EADS    JETTIES. 

of  the  seventy-six  abandoned  the  work.  In  January,  1878,. 
Captain  Eads  received  second  payment  of  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Certain  modifications  were  then  made  in 
the  conditions  imposed  by  the  Jetty  Act,  and  the  finances  of 
the  work  were  placed  on  a  sound  basis  for  construction,  when 
the  sudden  appearance  of  yellow  fever  suspended  operations. 
The  scourge  invaded  Port  Eads,  disbanded  the  working  force, 
sent  some  to  die  in  other  places,  and  some  it  laid  in  lonely 
graves  in  sight  of  their  almost  completed  work. 

The  jetties  were  finished  July,  1879,  Captain  Eads  having 
succeeded  in  obtaining  the  depth  and  width  in  the  smaller 
Pass  that  he  had  proposed  to  create  in  one  four  times  as 
large.  The  benefits  that  have  accrued  to  the  agricultural 
and  commercial  interests  of  the  great  valley,  of  which  this  is 
the  outlet,  may  be  inferred  from  a  letter  by  General  Bussey, 
President  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New  Orleans  :  "  Since 
completion  of  the  jetties,  there  have  been  no  complaints  of 
detention  at  the  bar.  Vessels  of  the  largest  class,  heavily 
loaded,  pass  through  the  jetties.  The  exports  and  imports 
have  largely  increased,  and  the  high  rates  for  freight  have 
been  lowered  to  a  reasonable  figure.  We  may  safely  esti- 
mate that  the  sum  saved  to  producers  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley  will  amount  to  five  millions  of  dollars  annually." 

To  the  honor  of  Captain  Eads,  be  it  said  that  in  no  in- 
stance in  the  world  has  such  a  vast  volume  of  water  been 
placed  under  such  absolute  and  permanent  control  through 
methods  so  economic  and  simple  as  those  adopted  at  the 
head  of  the  Passes  of  the  Mississippi  River.  To  Eads  must 
forever  belong  the  glory  of  having  first  unlocked  the  portals 
of  the  richest  valley  in  the  world,  and  thrown  wide  the  gates 
for  the  commerce  of  the  nations. 


THE    EADS    JETTIES.  23 

Immediately  after  the  publication  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Inter-oceanic  Canal  Congress,  held  at  Paris  under  the 
auspices  of  Count  De  Lesseps,  in  i879,Captain  Eads  published 
a  letter  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  containing  a  project  for  a 
ship  railway  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehauntepec,  Mexico,  as 
a  substitute  for  the  sea-level  canal  proposed  by  that  conven- 
tion. He  argued  that  the  railway  could  be  built  in  one  quar- 
ter the  time,  and  one  quarter  the  cost  of  the  canal ;  could 
transport  ships  at  greater  rapidity,  with  absolute  safety,  and 
the  expense  of  maintaining  and  operating  it  would  be  less 
than  that  of  the  canal.  Mr.  Eads  urged  the  matter  so 
strenuously  afterward,  and  his  engineering  skill  being  vindi- 
cated by  such  monumental  achievements  as  the  St.  Louis 
bridge  and  the  jetties,  that  he  secured  the  most  liberal  con- 
cessions from  the  Mexican  government,  He  then  submitted 
the  matter  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  1882. 
Though  his  bill  was  favorably  reported  to  the  Senate  by  the 
Committee  on  Commerce,  this  body  failed  to  act  on  it.  The 
bill  did  not  request  money  to  construct  the  railway,  but  sim- 
ply desired  that  the  government  should  guarantee  the  pay- 
ment for  a  period  of  fifteen  years  of  dividends  at  six  per 
cent,  per  annum  upon  the  value  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars 
of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Company.  Mr.  Eads  withdrew  his 
proposition  from  the  further  consideration  of  Congress. 
Limited  by  the  concessions  of  Mexico  to  invoking  the  aid  of 
only  one  foreign  power,  if  the  United  States  chose  to  refuse 
to  be  that  one  power,  blindly  against  her  own  interest,  no 
one  should  gainsay  her  that  privilege.  Work  was  begun  at 
the  Isthmus  May  ist,  1883,  and  was  to  be  completed  within 
ten  years.  Captain  Eads  visited  Europe  during  1883,  m  tne 
interest  of  his  project.  A  recent  article  in  the  New  York 


24  THE    EADS    JETTIES. 

Sun  states  that  "  the  new  models  of  the  carnage  and  pon- 
toons of  the  Eads  Ship  Railway  have  started  for  London. 
Nearly  all  the  capital  for  the  enterprise  is  being  subscribed 
in  that  city.  Chief  Engineer  Corthell  says  one  hundred  men 
are  at  work,  and  that  the  first  half  mile  of  track  has  been 
completed.  This,  with  the  river  course,  which  admits  three 
of  the  largest  ships  abreast,  completes  twenty-five  and  a-half 
miles  of  the  Tehauntepec  route.  The  new  pontoon  system 
of  raising  vessels  from  the  water  upon  the  railway  carriage 
is  to  be  substituted  for  the  hydraulic  system  first  contem- 
plated. It  was  conceived  by  London  engineers  and  adopted 
by  Eads,  and  will  raise  a  ship  out  of  water  and  upon  the  car- 
riage in  twenty  minutes." 

The  ship-railway,  when  completed,  will  shorten  the  route 
between  two  great  commercial  centres  eight  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  distance,  and  ninety  days  in  time, 
and  its  value,  its  supreme  necessity,  will  be  apparent  to  every 
scientific  and  thinking  mind,  while  its  effect  on  commerce  is 
almost  beyond  computation. 

Captain  Eads  was  formally  invited  to  improve  the  harbor 
at  Galveston,  and  secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  authorizing 
him  to  deepen  the  channel  at  that  port.  Though  inimical 
engineers  may  not  be  wanting  here  to  declare  Captain  Eads 
project  incapable  of  performance,  a  backward  glance  at  the 
Eads  jetties,  with  their  navigable  depth  of  thirty-three  feet 
where  eight  feet  formerly  existed,  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  he  was  sufiicienty  indorsed. 

A  man  who  can  crowd  into  a  lifetime  three  stupendous 
achievements,  any  one  of  which  would  have  made  his  name 
imperishable,  is  not  to  be  judged  by  ordinary  standards. 
Indefatigable  and  self-reliant,  he  was  as  staunch  in  his  under- 


THE    EADS   JETTIES.  25 

takings  as  the  granite  piers  of  his  own  bridge,  and  as  true  to 
his  purpose  as  the  steel  arches  that  clasp  them. 

In  private  life,  Mr.  Eads  was  kind  and  genial,  easy  of  ap- 
proach, and  the  dispenser  of  a  bounteous  hospitality.  He 
was  twice  married,  his  first  wife  surviving  their  union  only 
seven  years.  His  second  wife  resides  in  St.  Louis,  and 
gracefully  reflects  the  honors  that  so  successfully  crowned 
the  last  years  of  her  husband's  most  useful  life. 


THE  RAILWAY  ENGINE. 

I  O  the  unthinking  man,  a  railway  trip  in  this,  the  last 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  is  a  thing  of  little 
1  moment.  Two  parallel  rails  is,  to  him,  the  symbol  of 
rapid  and  easy  transit,  and  his  sole  anxiety  is  expended 
on  the  price  of  the  railway  ticket  and  the  safe  bestowal  of 
himself  in  the  carriage  before  the  departure  of  the  train. 
To  the  thinking  man,  this  rapid  and  easy  gliding  through 
unknown  and  unnoted  miles;  this  drawing  by  an  unseen 
power  through  hours  of  darkness  and  of  light;  this  compel- 
ling by  immutable  laws  the  unseen  power  to  expend  its 
strength  and  energy  in  the  transportation  from  one  point  to 
another  of  any  conceivable  burden,  becomes  a  miracle  of  in- 
ventive genius.  Every  revolving  wheel  and  nut  and  screw, 
every  rail  with  its  fastenings,  every  valve  and  cylinder  and 
piston  is  to  him  a  point  where  ingenuity  has  centered  and 
invention  struggled.  The  journey  he  accomplishes  in  one 
hour,  without  exertion  or  fatigue,  exacted  from  his  forefathers 
a  hundred  years  ago  a  day  of  wearisome  and  tedious  traveL 
This  triumph  of  mind  over  matter  was  achieved  for  him  be- 
fore he  was  born,  not  by  a  single  stroke  of  omnipotent  genius,, 
but  by  steady  and  long-enduring  anxiety  and  toil.  From 
the  work  he  turns  to  the  worker ;  from  the  splendor  of  the 
achievement  to  the  obscurity  of  the  collier,  whose  persever- 
26 


GEO.  STEPHENSON. 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  27 

ance  and  patience  made  him  the  achiever.  Nor  could  he 
contemplate  a  nobler  character.  As  the  first  man  who  ever 
successfully  constructed  a  locomotive  engine  and  by  his  un- 
tiring and  unyielding  spirit  forced  its  introduction  and 
employment,  we  give  to  George  Stephenson  the  homage  due 
a  benefactor.  In  the  little  colliery  village  of  Wylam-on-the- 
Tyne,  England,  he  was  born  June  gth,  1781.  His  fatherr 
Robert  Stephenson,  was  fireman  of  the  engine  at  the  Wylam 
mine,  and  young  George's  earliest  recollections  were  of  the 
beat  and  play  of  this  machine.  Being,  like  his  fellow-colliers,, 
very  poor,  Robert  Stephenson  was  unable  to  send  any  of  his 
six  children  to  school ;  but  each  contributed,  when  scarcely 
past  the  helplessness  of  childhood,  to  the  general  support. 
Sturdy  and  industrious,  George's  childhood  passed  in  the  per- 
formance of  duties  common  to  other  colliery  lads,  till  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  was  appointed  fireman,  and  at  seventeen 
engine-man  at  Water-rood  pit,  his  father  taking  the  inferior 
position  of  fireman  to  the  same  engine. 

George  now  set  to  work  to  gain  a  thorough  mastery  over 
the  machine  intrusted  to  his  care.  It  was  his  duty,  if  his 
engine  became  clogged  or  refused  to  work  in  any  way,  to  call 
in  the  aid  of  the  chief  engineer.  But  so  assiduously  did  he 
study  his  engine  and  pry  into  her  secrets,  he  could  soon 
determine  the  causes  of  her  obstinacy,  and  these  being  re- 
moved, himself  persuade  her  to  renew  her  work.  This 
puffing,  noisy,  busy  engine  became  his  pet.  He  laid  his 
hand  upon  her  throbbing  pulse  and  felt  the  beatings  of  her 
mighty  heart.  He  loosed  the  hinges  of  her  gigantic  limbs 
that  he  might  find  the  secret  of  their  strength ;  and,  having 
found  it,  pieced  her  up  again,  caressed  her  into  forgiveness 
of  his  pranks,  and  petted  her  into  renewed  activity. 


28  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

In  hours  of  leisure  he  made  clay  models  of  engines  he  had 
seen  or  heard  described.  The  wonderful  engines  of  Boulton 
and  Watt  had  excited  his  curiosity  to  the  highest  degree,  and 
he  was  anxious  to  have  accurate  "  information  as  to  their 
construction,  action,  and  uses."  He  was  told  he  would  find 
such  information  in  books ;  but  alas !  books  were  to  him  a 
sealed  fountain.  He  could  not  read,  even  the  letters  being 
to  him  a  series  of  hieroglyphics  as  meaningless  as  an  Egyp- 
tian legend.  For  the  first  time  the  necessity  of  possessing 
some  degree  of  education  struck  him  with  full  force.  The 
wisdom  of  ages  had  been  deposited  in  books  as  coal  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  and  the  art  of  reading  was  one  of  the 
picks  with  which  he  would  be  able  to  dig  out  the  wisdom  of 
others  and  make  it  his  own. 

To  learn  to  read  then  was  his  instant  resolve.  He  was 
eighteen,  a  man  in  size  and  strength  and  capacity  for  work, 
yet  was  not  ashamed  to  become  as  a  little  child,  acknowl- 
edge his  ignorance,  and  begin  at  the  alphabet.  His  wages 
were  small,  but  he  paid  three  pence  a  week  to  a  poor  teacher, 
Robin  Cowers,  of  Walbottle,  for  the  privilege  of  attending 
his  night-school  three  evenings  a  week.  After  his  twelve 
hours'  hard  labor  at  his  engine  he  walked  over  to  Walbottle 
and  took  lessons  in  reading  and  writing.  So  surely  will  the 
hungry  mind  push  aside  all  obstacles  to  obtain  its  natural 
and  necessary  food.  Public  schools  and  compulsory  educa- 
tion may  be  necessary  to  cram  the  many  with  unappreciated 
smatterings,  but  where  there  is  a  great  and  absorbing  thirst 
it  is  in  itself  an  unerring  guide  to  some  wayside  fountain 
where  one  may  drink  to  repletion.  Though  his  teacher  was 
but  little  more  competent  than  himself,  the  strong  will  of 
George  and  his  untiring  industry  soon  enabled  him  read,  and 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  29 

in  writing  he  advanced  far  enough  to  ascribe  with  pride  his 
own  name  when  he  was  nineteen  .years  old.  In  the  winter 
of  1 799  he  attended  the  night-school  of  Andrew  Robertson, 
in  the  village  of  Newburn.  He  was  induced  to  make  this 
change  partly  on  account  of  the  proximity  of  the  school  to 
Jolly's  Close,  but  more  particularly  because  Robertson,  hav- 
ing the  reputation  of  being  a  good  arithmetician,  could  give 
him  instruction  in  this  department  of  knowledge.  His  tuition 
fee  was  advanced  to  four  pence  a  week  for  three  evenings' 
instruction.  He  began  battling  with  figures.  In  his  spare 
moments  during  the  day  he  sat  down  by  his  engine  fire,  not 
to  rest,  but  to  take  his  slate  and  solve  the  problems  set  for 
him  the  preceding  night  by  the  master.  No  shirking  laggard 
was  he,  glad  to  evade  or  escape  a  difficult  task.  If  anything 
prevented  his  attendance  at  the  school,  he  sent  his  slate  by  a 
co-laborer  and  fellow-student  to  be  filled  with  a  new  set  of 
problems  that  he  might  not  lose  one  single  day  in  advancing 
himself  in  this  intricate  science.  What  an  example  of  untir- 
ing industry  and  patience  and  unyielding  purpose  is  this  !  If 
George  Stephenson  had  never  done  anything  else  but  leave 
to  posterity  this  record  of  his  student-life,  this  alone  would 
have  been  worth -to  the  world  more  than  the  records  of 
thousands  of  men  whose  shoe-latchets  he  would  not  have 
been  considered  worthy  to  unloose. 

But  his  pursuit  of  knowledge  did  not  lessen  his  interest  in 
his  daily  labor.  Braking  was  the  next  step  above  engineer- 
ing, and  of  this  he  determined  to  acquire  a  practical  knowl- 
edge. In  the  intervals  he  could  spare  from  his  labors  as 
engine-man,  William  Coe,  his  friend  and  fellow-workman, 
allowed  him  to  take  his  place  as  brakeman,  giving  him  the 
necessary  instructions.  He  quickly  acquired  the  art,  and 


30  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

when  he  went  to  Black  Collerton  in  1801,  though  only  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  was  appointed  to  the  responsible  office  of 
brakeman  to  the  Dolly  Pit,  and  earned  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
shillings  per  week.  Not  satisfied  with  this  remuneration, 
however,  he  added  to  it  by  mending,  and  afterward  making, 
shoes  during  the  evening  hours.  He  levied  a  tax  upon  every 
moment  of  time,  braking  his  engine,  working  the  examples 
set  for  him  on  his  slate,  practicing  writing  in  his  copy-book, 
or  making  and  mending  shoes. 

Naturally  ambitious,  industrious,  and  energetic,  a  new  im- 
petus had  been  given  to  these  traits  by  an  outside  influence 
that  came  to  bear  upon  his  life.  In  the  farmer's  house  in 
which  he  lodged  was  a  young  and  handsome  girl,  whose  per- 
sonal charms  were  enhanced  by  the  graces  of  her  mind  and 
heart,  and  it  was  not  long  before  her  charming  modesty,  her 
constant  and  unobtrusive  kindliness,  and  above  all,  her  strong 
and  practical  good  sense,  began  to  cast  a  potent  spell  over 
this  young  Hercules.  Unaccustomed  to  sue,  perhaps  his 
wooing  was  something  rough  and  homely,  but  it  was  manly 
and  to  the  point,  and  secured  from  his  charmer  the  promise 
which  he  sought.  It  only  remained  for  him  to  secure  a  mod- 
est competency  for  their  livelihood  for  the-  betrothal  to  con- 
summate in  marriage. 

When  twenty-one,  Stephenson  received  an  offer  to  take 
charge  of  an  engine  on  Willington  Ballast  Hill,  with  in- 
increased  wages.  By  thrift,  industry,  and  economy,  he  had 
managed  to  lay  by  a  sum  sufficient  to  take  a  small  cottage  at 
Willington  Quay,  so  he  determined  to  accept  the  offer,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  take  with  him  to  the  new  scene  of  his 
labors  his  sweetheart,  Fanny,  to  be  the  constant  light  of  his 
heart  and  home.  They  were  married  in  Newburn  Church, 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  3! 

November  28th,  1802,  and  George  carried  his  young  bride 
down  to  Jolly's  Close,  where  "  Old  Bob  "  and  his  wife,  Mabel, 
still  lived.  After  this,  they  started  for  their  bridal  home  at 
Willington  Quay,  distant  fifteen  miles,  on  horseback,  the 
groom  in  the  saddle,  and  his  young  wife  on  a  pillion  behind 
him,  her  arms  encircling  him  for  support. 

Steadily  working  at  his  engine  all  day,  George  now  began 
to  look  beyond  its  mechanical  parts,  and  try  to  solve  the  laws 
that  compelled  its  working.  During  the  winter  evenings,  he 
was  engaged  in  studying  mechanical  laws,  or  in  modeling  ex- 
perimental machines.  He  was  caught  by  the  mirage  of  Per- 
petual Motion,  and  though  after  patient  toiling,  he  discovered 
its  fallacy,  his  powers  of  acuteness  and  invention  were 
whetted  by  the  exercise. 

On  October  i6th,  1803,  was  born  George's  only  child, 
Robert,  and  this  little  problematic  bundle  of  humanity  became 
a  new  source  of  speculation  and  inquiry. 

In  1804,  Stephenson  became  engine-man  at  the  Killing- 
worth  mine.  It  was  near  the  close  of  the  year  when  they 
moved  to  their  new  home,  but  for  one  of  them  it  was  but  a 
temporary  abiding-place.  His  wife  sickened  and  died,  leav- 
ing to  him  an  embodied  memory  of  herself  in  little  Robert. 

While  this  deep  wound  was  still  bleeding,  he  received  an 
invitation  to  go  to  Scotland,  to  superintend  one  of  the  Boul- 
ton  and  Watt  engines  in  some  spinning  works  near  Mont- 
rose,  an  offer  which  he  immediately  accepted.  His  duties  he 
thoroughly  understood,  and  he  was  well  paid,  but  at  the  end 
of  the  year  he  returned  to  England,  only  to  find  new  sources 
of  anxiety.  In  an  accident,  his  father  had  suffered  the  loss 
of  his  eyesight,  and  it  required  half  the  twenty-eight  pounds 
George  had  saved  to  cancel  the  debts  of  the  family. 


32  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

Other  troubles  harassed  him.  Napoleon  was  shaking  the 
world  with  his  tread.  England  was  calling  for  recruits. 
Scarcity  of  work  and  lowness  of  wages  had  engendered  bit- 
ter discontent,  which  had  already  produced  riotous  upheavals 
at  Manchester,  Newcastle,  and  elsewhere.  The  working 
people  were  being  pressed  for  the  navy,  or  drawn  for  the 
militia,  and  among  this  latter  class  was  George  Stephenson. 
With  the  responsibility  of  the  support  of  his  parents  and  the 
care  of  his  motherless  boy  resting  upon  him,  he  determined 
to  hire  a  substitute.  The  remainder  of  his  hardly-won  earn- 
ings, with  six  pounds  of  borrowed  money,  procured  the  sub- 
stitute, but  left  him  penniless  and  disheartened.  His  sister 
and  her  husband  emigrating  to  America  about  this  time,  he 
all  but  resolved  to  go  with  them,  but  was  deterred  by  lack 
of  funds. 

As  he  was  too  poor  to  get  away  from  England,  the  next 
best  thing  was  to  go  immediately  to  work,  at  the  best  wages 
he  could  secure.  He,  with  two  other  brakemen,  took  a 
small  contract  for  braking  the  engine  at  West  Moor  Pit. 
The  average  earnings  of  each  amounted  to  eighteen  or  twenty 
shillings  per  week,  and  Stephenson  soon  set  his  ingenious 
mind  to  work  to  make  the  contract  pay  better.  By  an  entire 
rearrangement  of  the  gearing  and  shifting  of  the  pulleys,  he 
lessened  the  friction,  so  that  the  ropes  lasted  longer,  and  the 
men  were  enabled  to  work  more  continuously  and  profitably. 

In  1810,  a  Sweaton  engine  was  fixed  at  the  High  Pit,  to 
pump  the  water  out  of  the  mine ;  but  being  defective,  she 
worked  fruitlessly  for  twelve  months.  One  Saturday  after- 
noon, after  a  thorough  inspection,  Stephenson  concluded  he 
could  remedy  her  defects  ;  and  being  invited  to  try  by  Mr. 
Dodds,  the  head-viewer,  ingeniously  altered  the  machinery, 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  33 

and  in  three  clays  the  mine  was  clear  of  water.  In  recogni- 
tion of  his  ingenuity,  Stephenson  received  ten  pounds,  and 
was  appointed  engine-man  at  the  High  Pit. 

In  1812,  Mr.  Dodds  showed  his  appreciation  of  Stephen- 
son  by  recommending  to  the  company  that  he  be  appointed 
enginewright  of  the  colliery;  and  they,  having  heard  of 
Stephenson's  skill  and  marked  intelligence,  put  the  position 
into  his  hands  with  a  salary  of  one  hundred  pounds  a  year. 

Rising  rapidly  as  he  was  in  the  grade  of  labor,  he  never 
for  an  instant  relaxed  his  energies  in  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge. Snatching  a  leisure  moment  from  his  engine,  with 
pencil  and  slate,  or  chalk  and  a  wagon-side,  he  kept  chasing 
the  secrets  of  mathematics.  Feeling  deeply  the  want  of 
early  school-training  during  his  own  childhood,  he  determined 
that  his  son  should  not  suffer  a  like  deprivation,  though  it 
might  require  strictest  economy  and  constant  self-sacrifice  on 
his  part  to  procure  the  money  for  his  tuition.  So  he  made 
and  mended  shoes,  cleaned  clocks  and  watches,  cut  out  the 
pitmen's  clothes,  and  this  in  the  evening  hours  when  his  hard 
day's  toil  was  done. 

In  1815,  his  son  Robert,  having  attained  to  the  required 
age,  was  sent  to  Newcastle  to  school,  riding  back  and  forth 
morning  and  evening.  In  the  evenings  the  son  taught  the 
father  what  he  had  learned  during  the  day.  Sometimes  he 
brought  home  a  book  from  the  library,  when  father  and  son 
were  to  be  seen  poring  over  its  pages  together. 

His  inventive  faculties  began  now  to  exhibit  their  activity 
in  different  ways.  He  constructed  an  alarm  to  the  clock  of 
the  watchman  that  the  pitmen  might  be  called  with  unerring 
regularity,  made  the  babies'  cradles  self-rocking  by  attaching 
them  to  the  smoke-jacks,  and  fished  at  night  with  a  lamp  that 
3 


34  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

burned  under  water.  He  procured  a  Ferguson's  Astronomy? 
made  the  necessary  calculations  as  to  latitude,  and  made  a 
sun-dial.  He  constructed  a  self-acting  incline  so  that  the  full 
wagons  descending  drew  the  empty  ones  up  the  slope.  He 
made  improvements  in  the  engines  above  the  ground,  and 
descending  into  the  mines  by  using  the  surplus  strength  of 
one  engine,  he  reduced  the  number  of  horses  from  one  hun- 
dred to  fifteen. 

The  coals  of  the  .Killingworth  mine,  to  be  shipped,  had  to> 
be  dragged  by  horses  three  miles  to  the  Tyne.  George 
Stephenson  had  set  himself  to  solve  the  problem  of  more 
economical  portage,  both  as  regarded  time  and  money. 
Blenkinsop  and  Blackett  had  both  tried  the  haulage  of 
coals  with  locomotive  engines  of  their  own  construction  and 

o 

had  both  failed.  Stephenson  thought  he  saw  the  causes  of 
their  failure,  and  planned  an  engine  which  he  wished  to  try. 
He  brought  the  subject  before  the  lessees  of  the  mine  in 

1813,  and  Lord  Ravensworth,  one  of  the  partners,  advanced 
the    money  for   the  construction   of  the  locomotive.     It   was 
built  in  the   workshops  at  the   West  Moor,  with  rude  and 
clumsy  tools,  and  by  ruder  and  clumsier  men.      After  ten 
months'  hard  labor  and  anxiety,  it  was  completed,  christened 
"Blutcher,"  and  placed  upon  the  Killingworth  road,  July  25th, 

1814.  On  an  ascending  gradient  of  one  in  four  hundred  and 
fifty  the  engine  succeded  in  drawing  five  loaded  carriages  of 
thirty  tons  weight  at  four  miles  an  hour.     Not  satisfied  with 
his  success,  Stephenson  set  himself  diligently  to  improve  on 
"  Blutcher/'  and  accordingly  in  1815  was  granted  a  patent  for 
another  and  far  more  economical  engine,  one  in  which  steam- 
blast  was  for  the  first  time  applied. 

Stephenson's  mind,  however,  was  not  wholly  occupied  with 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  35 

locomotives.  Wherever  he  saw  the  necessity  for  an  invention 
his  mind  at  once  seized  with  avidity  that  point  and  never  left  it. 
One  day  in  1814  a  workman  rushed  into  his  cottage  with  the 
startling  intelligence  that  the  deepest  main  of  the  colliery  was 
on  fire  from  an  explosion  of  fire-damp.  Pushing  his  way 
through  terror-stricken  groups  of  women  and  children,  he 
ordered  the  enginemen  to  lower  him  at  once  into  the  mine. 
He  was  soon  in  the  midst  of  the  pitmen,  huddled  together  at 
the  bottom,  panic-stricken  at  this  sudden  apparition  of  a  fright- 
ful death. 

"Are  there  six  men  among  you  who  have  the  courage  to 
follow  me.  If  so  come,  and  we  will  put  the  fire  out."  Smitten 
into  sudden  silence  by  a  voice  so  full  of  moral  and  manly 
courage,  six  followed  where  Stephenson  led  into  this  "  mouth 
of  hell,"  and  following  his  example,  fell  quickly  to  work  and 
stopped  with  stone  and  mortar  the  mouth  of  the  burning 
shaft.  "  Can  nothing  be  done  to  prevent  such  awful  occur- 
rences ?"  asked  Kit  Heppel .  "  I  think  something  can  be 
done,"  was  the  quiet  reply  of  Stephenson,  this  master-thinker, 
who  was  already  searching  about  in  the  darks  and  depths  for 
that  something  to  do.  "  The  price  of  coal  mining  is  pitmen's 
lives  "  was  the  axiom  with  which  he  began  the  problem,  and 
in  the  autumn  of  1815,  though  his  whole  soul  seemed  ab- 
sorbed in  the  improvement  and  successful  employment  of  the 
locomotive,  he  had  evolved  the  solution  out  of  his  own  mind. 
Late  on  the  evening  of  October  2ist,  he  received  from  the 
Messrs.  Hogg,  tinmen,  a  safety-lamp  made  according  to  his 
instructions,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  test  it  in  the  most 
dangerous  part  of  the  mine.  Owing  to  unavoidable  delay,  it 
was  near  midnight  when  Stephenson,  accompanied  by  his  two 
friends,  Moodie  and  Wood,  descended  into  the  mine  with  the 


36  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

lighted  lamp.  To  make  this  an  effectual  and  perfect  test  of 
his  lamp,  Stephenson  erected  a  sort  of  chamber  by  walling  in 
that  part  of  the  gallery  into  which  the  gas  was  escaping,  so 
that  the  air  would  be  most  foul  for  the  purpose  of  experiment. 
After  an  hour's  waiting  Moodie,  who  had  the  greatest  experi- 
ence in  fire-damp,  was  sent  into  the  chamber,  and  returning, 
declared  that  if  a  lighted  candle  were  now  introduced  into 
this  poisoned  hole  an  explosion  would  be  inevitable.  The 
two  others  tried  to  dissuade  Stephenson  from  risking  his  life 
by  entering  the  gaseous  chamber  with  his  lighted  lamp. 
They  retired  to  a  place  of  safety,  and  Stephenson,  alone  at 
this  midnight  hour,  walked  calmly  into  the  dismal  and  reeking 
cavern,  holding  in  his  firm  right  hand  his  untried  lamp,  which, 
if  unsuccessful,  must  prove  to  him  the  inevitable  messenger 
of  death.  The  flame  brightened,  then  flickered,  then  went 
out,  leaving  Stephenson  to  grope  his  way  in  darkness  back 
to  his  anxious  friends,  triumphant  in  his  victory  over  the  fiend 
of  the  mines.  This  was  the  first  practical  safety-lamp  ever 
invented,  and  was  tested  in  the  mines  October  2ist,  1815. 
A  second  and  improved  one  was  tested  by  Stephenson  on 
November  4th,  and  it  was  not  till  November  Qth  of  the  same 
year  that  the  safety-lamp  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davey  was  ex- 
hibited to  the  public,  and  by  the  3Oth  of  November  Stephen- 
son  had  constructed  his  third  safety-lamp.  Each,  working 
independently  and  in  ignorance  of  the  other,  had  arrived  at 
the  same  issue.  Sir  Humphrey  had  worked  downward  from 
a  scientific  stand-point  to  the  poor  miner  in  the  death-dealing 
mine.  Stephenson,  himself  inhaling  the  poisonous  gases  in 
the  dim-lighted  caverns,  had  worked  upward  from  the  broad 
level  of  humanity  to  this  sublime  height  of  life-saving 
thought.  Sir  Humphrey  was  presented  with  two  thousand 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  37 

pounds.  Stephenson,  from  his  friends,  one  thousand,  and 
from  the  poor  colliers  a  plain  silver  watch,  which  to  the  day 
of  his  death,  he  declared  was  the  most  highly  prized  gift  of 
his  life. 

Meanwhile  his  locomotive  engine  was  daily  performing  its 
work  on  the  Killingworth  road,  though  Stephenson  regarded 
it  as  far  from  perfect,  and  was  daily  studying  its  improvement. 
He  and  Mr.  Lost,  the  iron-founder,  secured  a  patent  for  an 
improved  manner  of  laying  the  cast-iron  rails,  and  he  changed 
the  wheels  of  his  locomotive  from  cast  to  malleable  iron, 
making  them  more  durable  and  safe.  These  identical 
engines  constructed  by  Stephenson  in  1818  were  still  in  use 
on  the  road  in  1865.  But  Killingworth  Colliery  lay  far  from 
London,  the  centre  of  scientific  life,  and  Stephenson,  while 
the  fires  of  originality  burned  hotly  within  him,  could  not 
give  vent  to  his  thoughts  or  describe  his  inventions  in  treatises 
and  pamphlets,  since  in  his  early  life  he  had  not  had  time  to 
acquire  any  mastery  over  written  language.  So  much  was 
he  in  despair  of  being  able  to  bring  his  locomotive  before 
the  public  that  the  old  idea  of  emigrating  to  America  began 
to  haunt  him.  Fortunately,  however,  about  this  time  the 
owners  of  the  Hatton  Colliery  determined  to  alter  their 
wagon-way  to  a  locomotive  railroad,  and  invited  Stephenson 
to  act  as  engineer  of  the  line.  This  was  in  1819,  and  on  the 
1 8th  of  November,  1822,  five  of  the  Stephenson  locomotives 
were  at  work  upon  this  railway,  each  capable  of  drawing 
seventeen  wagons  weighing  sixty-four  tons  at  the  rate  of 
four  miles  an  hour. 

While  this  work  was  being  carried  on  by  Stephenson,  the 
question  of  a  railway  between  Stockton  and  Darlington  was 
fiercely  agitated.  Edward  Pease  had  put  his  strong  shoulder 


38  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

under  the  scheme,  and  was  pushing  it  forward  against  bitter 
opposition.  Toward  the  close  of  1821  Nicholas  Wood  and 
George  Stephenson  called  on  Mr.  Pease,  Stephenson  intro- 
ducing himself,  in  his  strong  Northumbrian  dialect,  "as  only 
the  enginewright  at  Killingworth."  The  object  of  this  visit 
-on  the  part  of  Stephenson  was  to  make  application  for  the 
position  of  engineer  on  the  contemplated  Stockton  &  Dar- 
lington railroad.  The  honesty  and  intelligence  of  the  engine- 
wright so  impressed  Mr.  Pease  that  he  immediately  instituted 
inquiries  about  Stephenson,  and  these  were  so  satisfactory 
J:hat  the  appointment  was  forthwith  given  to  him. 

Mr.  Pease,  however,  was  in  favor  of  stationary  engines  as 
the  tractive  power,  till,  being  invited  by  Stephenson  to  take  a 
ride  on  one  of  his  Killingworth  engines,  he  was  so  impressed 
with  the  powers  and  capabilities  of  the  locomotive  that  he 
became  at  once  its  declared  supporter. 

September  27th,  1825,  the  road  was  formally  opened,  hav- 
ing been  in  course  of  construction  for  three  years ;  the  "  Ex- 
periment," the  first  passenger  coach  ever  built,  and  devised 
by  Stephenson,  forming  part  of  the  procession.  The  loco- 
motive engine  was  driven  by  Stephenson  himself,  and  drew 
after  it  at  a  continuous  speed  of  four  miles  an  hour  twenty- 
two  wagons,  containing  passengers,  directors,  and  proprietors, 
and  twelve  wagons  loaded  with  coal  and  flour. 

In  1821,  the  merchants  of  Liverpool  and  Manchester  be- 
gan to  consider  the  expediency  of  bringing  these  two  cen- 
tres of  commerce  and  manufacture  into  more  direct  commu- 
nication. A  tram-road  was  first  contemplated,  but  Mr. 
James,  the  surveyor  of  the  line,  having  seen  the  Stephenson 
.locomotive  in  operation,  advocated  a  railroad  instead.  As 
.the  survey  of  the  line  proceeded,  Mr.  James,  becoming  em- 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  39 

barrassed  with  private  debts,  of  which  he  was  unable  to  free 
himself,  the  railway  committee  found  themselves  obliged  to 
secure  another  engineer.  The  energy  and  practical  ability 
Stephenson  had  displayed  from  the  initiation  of  the  Stockton- 
Darlington  scheme  up  to  the  moment  when  this  scheme 
was  approaching  its  completion,  pointed  to  him  as  the  fittest 
man  for  the  undertaking.  Stephenson  effected  the  survey 
under  an  accumulation  of  opposition  from  land-owners  and 
peasantry.  Sometimes  by  strategy  he  outwitted  them,  some- 
times by  night  he  stole  along  past  his  sleeping  enemies. 

The  bill  entered  the  House  of  Commons  March  2ist, 
1825.  Before  its  reading,  when  Stephenson  stated  to  Wm. 
Brougham,  one  of  the  retainers  to  defend  the  bill  against 
known  opposition,  that  he  confidently  expected  to  run  his 
locomotive  at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour,  this  gentle- 
man told  him  if  he  did  not  moderate  his  views  and  bring  his 
engine  within  a  reasonable  rate  of  speed,  "he  would  inevita- 
bly damn  the  whole  thing,  and  himself  be  regarded  as  a 
maniac  fit  only  for  Bedlam." 

On  March  25th,  Stephenson  was  called  into  the  witness- 
box  to  demonstrate  that  which  men  of  sense  and  science 
everywhere  declared  to  be  impossible.  In  the  midst  of  sneers, 
interruptions,  and  ridicule  and  whispered  doubts  as  to  his 
sanity,  Stephenson  stood  by  his  locomotive  with  a  firmness 
that  amounted  to  heroism.  But  this  "  unlettered,  inarticulate 
genius"  had  no  power  to  force  his  reasoning  in  upon  the 
thick  heads  of  these  lawyers,  who  did  not  know  one  part  of 
an  engine  from  another.  The  contest  lasted  over  two 
months,  but  the  bill  was  finally  defeated.  This  was  the 
severest  trial  that  had  ever  befallen  Stephenson.  He  had 
fought  for  the  bill  almost  single-handed,  had  been  stigma- 


4O  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

tized  as  a  fool,  an  ignoramus,  and  a  maniac,  had  seen  his 
friends  look  doubtfully  upon  him  and  his  locomotive,  and  now 
the  railway  committee  informed  him  they  thought  it  best  to 
release  him,  and  employ  scientific  engineers  for  a  second  sur- 
vey. 

The  bill  again  went  into  Parliament  March,  1826,  and  was 
carried,  and  Stephenson  was  appointed  chief  enigineer,  at  a 
salary  of  one  thousand  pounds  per  annum.  The  line  was 
completed  and  formally  opened  to  the  public  September  I5th, 
1830.  In  these  four  years,  the  busiest  of  his  busy  life, 
Stephenson  had  finished  this  gigantic  undertaking  ;  had  per- 
sonally superintended  the  construction  of  the  entire  thirty 
miles ;  had  planned  and  built  sixty-three  bridges,  including 
the  famous  Sankey  viaduct,  which  consists  of  nine  arches, 
each  of  fifty  feet  span  ;  had  cut  through  the  solid  rock  of 
Olive  Mount  a  narrow  track  two  miles  long,  and  in  some 
places  one  hunclred  feet  deep  ;  had  tunneled  his  way  for  a 
mile  and  a  half  under  Liverpool ;  and  had  successfully  laid 
his  iron  rails  across  Chat  Moss,  an  impenetrable  bog,  twelve 
square  miles  in  extent,  a  feat  which  the  lawyers  in  Parliament 
had  unanimously  declared  impossible. 

During  the  ceremonies  of  the  opening  day,  an  unfortunate 
accident  occurred,  in  which  Mr.  Huskisson  fell  under  the 
train  and  was  badly  crushed.  George  Stephenson  conveyed 
the  wounded  man  on  his  train  to  Eccles,  a  distance  of  fifteen 
miles,  in  twenty-five  minutes,  or  at  the  rate  of  thirty-six  miles 
an  hour.  This  was  the  fool,  the  ignoramus,  the  maniac,  as- 
serting his  right  to  the  title ! 

Fifty  years  afterward,  on  September  7th,  1881,  another 
wounded  man,  the  stricken  chief  of  a  nation,  was  conveyed 
by  railway  at  a  velocity  at  times  almost  doubling  that  made 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  41 

by  Stephenson.  This  road  was  a  branch  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania system,  which  uniformly  makes  between  Philadelphia 
and  Pittsburgh  over  forty  miles,  and  between  Philadel- 
phia and  New  York  forty-nine  and  a  half  miles  per  hour. 
The  New  York  Central,  another  great  net-work  of  rail- 
ways that  has  spread  rapidly  since  Stephenson  first  ac- 
complished their  introduction,  has,  between  Buffalo  and 
Albany,  a  running  speed  of  sixty  miles  an  hour.  In  Stephen- 
son's  own  country,  the  Great  Northern  Railway  has  a 
uniform  velocity  of  forty-seven,  and  this  is  frequently  in- 
creased to  sixty-two  miles  an  hour;  while  short  runs  from 
London  are  daily  made  at  an  average  velocity  of  seventy- 
three  to  seventy-eight  miles  an  hour.  If,  as  Emerson  says, 
"  Every  ship  that  comes  to  America  gets  its  chart  from 
Columbus,"  then  every  locomotive  that  shrieks  and  pants  its 
busy  way  from  place  to  place  "  borrows  the  genius "  of 
Stephenson. 

Such  speed  as  Stephenson  had  attained  in  his  fifteen-mile 
run  to  Eccles  became  everywhere  the  subject  of  excited 
speculation.  Those  who  had  sneered  at  the  locomotive  ac- 
quiring the  speed  of  a  mail  coach,  now  went  to  the  other  ex- 
treme and  declared  that  the  rapidity  with  which  it  could  be 
driven  might  be  extended  to  fifty,  sixty,  or  a  hundred  miles 
an  hour.  But  Stephenson  had  grappled  with  the  locomotive 
too  long  to  be  led  captive  by  a  vision  of  unnecessary  veloci- 
ties. While  practically  there  might  be  no  limit  to  the  rapidity 
which  might  be  conveyed  to  the  wheels  by  the  motive  power, 
such  rapidity  must  always  be  governed  and  limited  by  the 
strength  of  materials.  A  locomotive  and  road-bed  that  could 
safely  stand  a  speed  of  twenty  miles  an  hour,  would,  if  the 
speed  were  increased  to  forty  or  fifty  miles,  be  inevitably 


42  THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE. 

torn  to  pieces.  As  a  high  rate  of  speed  engendered  danger 
and  was  practically  unnecessary,  he  thought  railroad  pro- 
jectors ought  to  keep  themselves  within  the  limits  of  safe 
locomotion. 

While  these  discussions  as  to  speed  were  rife,  wild  specu- 
lations as  to  the  remuneration  to  be  gained  from  railroads 
seized  the  country.  New  railway  schemes  opened  up  every 
day,  many  of  which  were  shameful  frauds.  Gambling  in  rail- 
road stocks  became  a  mania,  and  the  more  prudent  ones  that 
refused  to  enter  the  vortex  were  said  to  be  shamefully  neg- 
lectful of  the  interests  of  their  families.  Shares  were  bought 
and  sold  as  the  railway  beam  rose  or  fell,  and  many  were  the 
victims  to  the  sharpers  that  controlled  the  market.  From  all 
this  Stephenson  held  aloof.  He  refused  to  indorse  any  of 
these  schemes,  and  constantly  warned  others  away  from 
them.  If  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  solidity  of  a  railroad 
project,  he  sometimes  bought  shares,  but  held  them,  however 
much  the  market  fluctuated,  being  restrained  by  principle 
from  this  species  of  gambling. 

Not  only  in  England,  but  in  foreign  countries,  wherever  a 
railroad  was  contemplated,  Stephenson  was  besieged  for  his 
advice.  In  Belgium  he  was  honored  by  a  magnificent  ban- 
quet, and  King  Leopold  invited  him  to  a  private  interview  to 
get  his  opinion  in  regard  to  railways,  and  the  development  of 
the  coal  fields  of  his  kingdom.  His  correspondence  with 
railway  projectors  and  inventors  was  so  great  he  employed  a 
private  secretary,  to  whom,  in  one  day,  he  dictated  thirty- 
seven  letters. 

In  1820,  Stephenson  had  remarried  a  lady  of  most  estima- 
ble character,  and  to  whom  his  son  was  devotedly  attached. 
He  had  settled  at  Alton,  but  afterward  removed  to  Tapton, 


THE    RAILWAY    ENGINE.  43 

where  the  closing  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  the  bosom 
of  his  family  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  his  dogs  and  rabbits, 
his  birds  and  fruits  and  flowers. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  was  a  warm  friend  and  admirer  of  Steph- 
enson,  and  invited  him  to  his  house  at  Drayton,  where  the 
vigor  of  his  thought  and  the  originality  and  shrewdness  of 
his  observations  charmed  all  who  came  within  his  circle. 

In  the  spring  of  1848,  Stephenson  was  invited  to  Whitting- 
ton  House  to  meet  the  distinguished  American,  Emerson.  In 
speaking  of  this  visit,  Emerson  afterward  said,  "  It  was  worth 
crossing  the  Atlantic  were  it  only  to  see  Stephenson — he  had 
such  force  of  character  and  vigor  of  intellect." 

In  August,  1848,  he  was  seized  with  intermittent  fever,  and 
after  an  illness  of  ten  days,  while  all  thought  him  recovering, 
suddenly  died  from  an  effusion  of  blood  from  the  lungs.  He 
reposes  at  Trinity  Church,  Chesterfield,  where  a  simple 
tablet  marks  his  resting  place. 

A  statue  of  Stephenson,  ordered  by  the  Liverpool  & 
Manchester  and  Grand  Junction  Companies,  stands  in  St. 
George's  Hall,  Liverpool.  Another,  erected  by  the  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  stands  in  the  vestibule  of  the  sta- 
tion in  Euston  Square,  London.  But  the  finest  statue  of  him 
is  to  be  seen  at  Newcastle  in  a  very  thoroughfare  of  work- 
ingmen,  close  to  the  smoke  of  the  great  locomotive  foundry 
established  by  himself,  and  under  the  shadow  of  the  High 
Level  Bridge,  erected  by  the  genius  of  his  son. 


THE  MORSE  TELEGRAPH. 

\  fHILE  we  listen  with  wonder  to  the  demands  of  elec- 
\  A  /  tricity  for  new  avenues  in  which  to  exhibit  her 
Jl  |^  strength  and  utility,  we  turn  with  greater  pleasure 
to  the  story  of  no  man  than  to  his  whose  genius  first 
caught  the  "  winged  fire  "  and  bade  it  bear  his  thoughts  in  its 
swift  flight  to  some  distant  point.  To  Samuel  Morse,  the 
profound  scholar,  the  indefatigable  worker,  and  triumphant 
inventor,  we  accord  this  honor.  He  it  was  who  first  demon- 
strated a  practical  method  for  the  transmission  of  messages 
through  the  agency  of  electricity,  a  force  hitherto  familiarly 
known  only  as  a  divine  smile  playing  about  the  face  of  some 
angry  storm-cloud.  Others  had  been  tampering  with  this 
spirit-fire  as  it  came  and  went  in  its  noiseless  way  like  a 
ghost,  manifesting  its  presence  by  a  shock  that  thrilled  every 
fibre  of  their  beings,  or  else  startling  them  by  a  spark  that 
instantly  vanished.  But  Morse  breathed  his  thoughts  into  its 
current,  and  bade  it  deliver  them  to  whomsoever  he  willed. 
This  most  distinguished  scion  of  a  distinguished  family, 
Samuel  Finley  Breese  Morse,  was  born  April  27th,  1/91,  in 
Charlestown,  Mass.  His  father,  Jedediah  Morse,  himself  a 
sturdy  and  practical  thinker,  compiled  and  published  the  first 
geography  ever  printed  on  this  continent.  With  a  vigor  and 
energy  that  were  but  strengthened  by  difficulties,  he  labored 
44 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  45 

on  his  work  of  gaining  correct  statistics  and  surveys  during 
the  week,  and  on  Sunday,  in  the  pulpit,  he  devoted  the  day 
of  rest  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  people.  Well  for  us 
he  bequeathed  to  his  eldest  son  his  powers  of  concentrated 
thought  and  the  ability  to  reduce  to  practical  ends  the  vague 
dreams  of  the  philosopher. 

His  brother,  Sidney,  three  years  his  junior,  was  a  brilliant, 
precocious  lad,  who,  while  other  boys  were  playing  with  their 
marbles  and  tops,  was  publishing  political  pamphlets  showing 
the  danger  accruing  to  the  new  Republic  from  the  multiplica- 
tion of  States.  Afterward  a  learned  and  logical  divine, 
perhaps  he  is  best  known  to  the  world  as  the  founder  of  the 
New  York  Observer,  a  religious  paper  that  has  enjoyed  the 
widest  circulation  of  any  paper  of  like  character  published  in 
America. 

Samuel  was  rugged  and  healthful,  fond  of  boyhood's  sports 
and  staunch  as  the  hills  he  climbed.  Saved  from  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight  with  poverty  by  the  money  his  father  had  realized 
from  the  publication  of  his  geography,  he  was  enabled  to 
prosecute  his  studies  uninterruptedly  at  the  district  school. 
This  he  did  so  successfully  under  his  father's  guidance  that, 
at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  enabled  to  enter  Yale  College. 
Here,  unlike  so  many  youths  who  become  distinguished  men, 
he  did  not  trust  to  the  flashes  of  his  genius  to  light  him  over 
the  obscure  and  difficult  road  through  which  knowledge  leads 
her  votaries,  but  by  intense  and  methodical  study  made  him- 
self master  of  each  day's  allotted  work.  Here  we  catch  a 
glimpse  of  that  intellect  which  was  being  nurtured  and  trained 
for  that  work  that  was  destined  to  be  its  ultimatum.  Thor- 
oughly analytical  and  penetrating,  we  find  him  one  day 
triumphantly  unravelling  some  mathematical  intricacy,  and 

• 


46  THE    MORSE   TELEGRAPH. 

declaring  himself  ready  to  adopt  civil  engineering  as  his  life- 
work.  The  next,  fascinated  by  the  wonder-working  laboratory, 
this  young  enthusiast  barely  escaped  blowing  himself  and  his 
comrades  into  atoms  by  the  rash  combination  of  antagonistic 
elements.  Again,  fascinated  by  some  paintings  that  come 
under  his  notice,  he  falls  in  love  with  Art,  and  declares  hence- 
forth she  alone  shall  be  his  mistress.  Meanwhile,  having 
graduated  with  some  distinction,  after  three  years  of  college 
life,  he  is  urged  by  his  practical  father  to  turn  his  whole  atten- 
tion to  civil  engineering  as  being  an  honorable  and  most 
lucrative  calling.  But  his  new  love  was  too  strong  and  ab- 
sorbing. He  had  stood  before  the  canvases  of  Allston  and 
West  and  longed  only  for  a  palette  and  brush.  He  quietly 
held  his  own  against  not  only  the  wishes  but  the  ridicule 
of  his  father,  and  in  the  year  following  his  graduation,  as 
the  protege  of  Allston,  he  embarked  for  London  to  make 
formal  entrance  into  the  world  of  art.  The  sturdy  good 
sense  of  the  father  supplied  him  with  money  to  begin  his 
career,  but  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  he  did  so  on  the 
principle  that  if  he  had  rope  enough  he  would  hang  himself; 
and  flattered  himself  that  New  England  hills  would  soon 
welcome  back  the  ambitious  and  impecunious  prodigal,  who 
would  gladly  enough  turn  to  some  more  practical  and  money- 
making  occupation. 

Allston  presented  him  to  Benjamin  West,  who  was  charmed 
with  the  young  and  enthusiastic  student,  and  it  was  under 
the  guidance  of  these  two  celebrated  painters  Morse  began 
his  art  studies.  His  warmth  of  heart  and  fine  social  qualities 
soon  won  him  such  friends  among  eminent  artists  as  Fuseli, 
Northcote,  Turner,  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  Flaxman,  and 
others,  while  his  quick  intelligence  and  healthy  tone  of  mind 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  47 

attracted  to  him  such  congenial  spirits  in  the  literary  world 
as  Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  Rogers,  Crabbe.  Those  same 
habits  of  method  and  industry  that  had  characterized  the 
Yale  student,  also  distinguished  him  as  an  embryro  artist, 
and  in  one  year  from  the  time  he  went  to  London,  we  find 
him  at  work  upon  so  pretentious  a  subject  as  the  "  Dying 
Hercules."  Having  first  made  a  clay  model  of  his  hero, 
he  placed  it  on  exhibition,  and  had  the  honor  of  re- 
ceiving the  prize  offered  by  the  Adelphia  Society  of  Arts, 
though  there  were  thirteen  other  competitors.  This 
was  a  triumph,  indeed,  and  inspired  him  to  compete  for 
the  prize  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  historical  painting, 
though  the  subject  was  so  severe  a  one  as  "  The 
Judgment  of  Jupiter."  Benjamin  West,  President  of 
the  Royal  Academy,  pronounced  the  highest  eulogies 
upon  the  finished  picture,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  it 
would  have  drawn  the  prize  had  it  not  suddenly  been  with- 
drawn from  the  contest  a  few  months  before  the  time  of  de- 
cision. But  poverty,  that  grim  and  relentless  arbiter  of  our 
fates,  rudely  awoke  the  young  artist  from  his  ambitious 
dreams,  showed  him  his  pockets  as  empty  of  coin  as  his 
larder  was  empty  of  bread,  and  drove  him  unmercifully  from 
the  scene  of  his  expected  triumph.  He  returned  to  America 
and  set  up  his  studio  in  Boston,  and  adorned  it  with  many 
beautiful  works  of  art,  both  original  compositions  and  copies 
of  the  work  of  others.  But,  while  many  admired,  none  gave 
him  an  order  for  a  picture,  and  his  finances  soon  became  so 
low  that  he  was  compelled  to  leave  Boston.  He  went  to 
Concord,  abandoned  historical  painting,  and  advertised  to 
paint  portraits  at  ten  dollars  apiece.  But  few  people  cared 
to  see  themselves  on  canvas,  and  he  did  not  receive  orders 


48  THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH. 

enough  to  make  a  fair  living.  Long  ago  Allston  had  filled 
his  mind  with  glowing  pictures  of  the  South,  and  of  Charlesr 
ton,  his  home,  as  being  the  centre  of  refinement  and  aesthetic 
taste,  and  thither  he  determined  to  go  in  search  of  better 
fortunes.  He  bore  with  him  the  inspiration  of  a  warm 
attachment  that  had  sprung  up  between  him  and  a  young 
lady  in  Concord,  and  the  hope  of  a  marriage  with  her  stimu- 
lated him  to  wonderful  industry  in  his  new  field.  All  that 
succeeding  winter  and  spring  we  hear  of  him  painting  four 
portraits  a  week,  for  which  he  was  paid  in  this  wealthy  city 
of  Charleston  sixty  dollars  apiece.  In  one  year  he  returned 
to  New  England  with  three  thousand  dollars,  and  on  the  6th 
of  October,  1818,  was  married  to  Miss  Lucretia  Walker,  his 
gentle  and  faithful  sweetheart.  Four  successive  winters  he 
painted  portraits  in  Charleston,  and  then  settled  in  New 
Haven  and  once  more  returned  to  historical  works.  His 
first  study  was  the  "  Interior  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives," introducing  in  miniature  the  faces  of  the  most  distin- 
guished Congressmen  ;  but  as  he  had  to  pay  one  hundred 
and  ten  dollars  for  the  privilege  of  placing  his  picture  on  ex- 
hibition in  New  York,  it  was  with  no  small  degree  of  chagrin 
and  disgust  that  he  rolled  up  out  of  sight  a  work  that  had 
cost  him  nearly  two  years  of  severe  labor.  He  now  removed 
to  New  York  induced  greatly  to  make  this  change  by  the 
fact  that  his  brother,  Sidney,  had  already  founded  the  New 
York  Observer,  and  was  its  successful  editor.  Here  he 
painted  when  he  could  find  a  subject  willing  to  be  painted  ; 
delivered  lectures  on  art  and  taught  a  class  of  four  young 
men,  to  obtain  money  sufficient  to  support  himself  and  family, 
for  he  had  now  three  young  children.  That  he  did  paint 
well  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  he  was  commissioned  by  an 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  49 

assembly  of  New  Yorkers  to  paint  the  portrait  of  Lafayetter 
just  arrived  in  this  country.     So  great  an  honor  rarely  befell 
him,  and  he  brought  to  his  task  not  only  a  genuine  love  of 
his  art,  but  an  enthusiastic  admiration  of  his  subject.     While 
engaged  on  this  delightful  work  he  was  suddenly  called  to 
the  bedside  of  his  young  wife,  and  ere   his  return  he  had 
borne  both  her  and  his  father  to  their  eternal  resting-places. 
He  was  almost  heart-broken  at  his  bereavement,  and   the 
eulogy  upon  the  stone  that  marks   the  grave  of  his  wife  we 
may  well   believe  to  be  a  genuine  expression  of  the  deep 
and  lasting  love  he  bore  her.     With  a  heavy  heart  he  com- 
pleted the  task  so  sadly  interrupted.    Lafayette  was  delighted! 
with    both    picture  and    painter,  and  William  Cullen  Bryant 
formed   an    attachment    for   the   young   artist  which    lasted 
through  life. 

Meanwhile  the  signs  were  growing  ominous  that  the  birth 
of  some  great  invention  in  the  electrical  world  was  about  to> 
startle  the  universe.  When  Morse  laid  aside  his  palette,  it 
was  to  seek  recreation  in  experimenting  in  chemistry  and  irt 
discussing  with  Dana,  his  life-long  friend,  the  wonderful 
phenomena  of  electricity  and  electro-magnetism.  His  keen* 
interest  on  this  subject  was  remarkable. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  Morse  was  reduced  to  great 
poverty.  One  day  he  acknowledged  to  one  of  his  pupils- 
that  he  had  not  tasted  bread  in  twenty-four  hours.  But: 
having  sworn  allegiance  to  Art,  he  would  not  abate  his  wor- 
ship, though  he  had  been  obliged  to  confess  she  had  become 
indifferent  to  his  wants  and  sufferingf.  Centering  the  secret 

o  o 

of  his  failures  in   himself,   and  excusing  the   coyness  of  his 
chosen    mistress,  he    determined    if   possible    to  go   abroad 
again,  and  by  hard  study  acquire  such  a  mastery  over  his 
4 


50  THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH. 

art  as  would  enable  him  to  gain   not   only  a  livelihood,  but 
affluence  and  renown. 

In  1829,  he  carried  his  wishes  into  effect,  and  for  the  sec- 
ond time  trod  European  soil.  He  visited  the  principal  art 
galleries  of  Europe,  and  with  that  love  of  analysis  so  emi- 
nently his  characteristic,  he  tried  to  wrest  from  the  celebrated 
paintings  the  secret  of  their  fascination.  Why  such  group- 
ings of  proportions,  and  such  blendings  of  color  should  pro- 
duce certain  effects  he  labored  to  ascertain,  that  he  might 
reduce  to  a  system  of  laws  the  art  of  painting,  and  so  be  able 
to  reproduce  at  will  such  exhibitions  of  beauty  and  grandeur  as, 
now  seemed  beyond  his  reach.  Alas  !  Beauty  is  a  law  unto  it- 
self and  in  whatever  form  appearing  is  its  own  best  apology  for 
existence.  He  made  many  warm  friends  during  this  tour,  nota- 
bly among  these  being  Arago,  the  astronomer,  and  Humboldt. 

In  October,  1832,  Morse  turned  his  face  homeward,  with  his 
brain  crowded  with  impressions,  and  ready  to  give  to  the 
world  on  canvas  the  result  of  his  three  years'  hard  study. 
What  that  result  might  have  been  we  can  only  conjecture. 
He  had  sailed  on  the  packet  ship  "  Sully,"  little  dreaming 
that  this  was  to  be  the  birthplace  of  an  idea  from  his  own 
brain  which  should  afterward  practically  annihilate  time  and 
distance.  The  world  was  ripe  for  the  invention.  Savants  in 
widely  different  sections  had  been  experimenting  in  electro- 
magnetism,  CErsted,  of  Copenhagen,  had  established  the 
correlation  of  electricity  and  magetism.  Conversation  every- 
where turned  upon  this  subject  and  the  wonders  yet  to  be. 
On  board  the  "  Sully  "  a  gentleman  was  describing  how  he 
Jiad  recently  seen  sparks  drawn  from  a  magnet. 

"  How  long  does  it  take  the  fluid  to  pass  through  one  hun- 
dred feet  of  wire  ?"  asked  a  passenger. 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  51 

"  It  passes  instantaneously,"  immediately  answered  Morse  ; 
"  and  if  that  is  so,"  he  continued  slowly,  his  mind  turning  in 
upon  itself,  "  and  electricity  could  be  made  to  manifest  itself 
at  any  part  of  the  circuit,  I  see  no  reason  why  messages  could 
not  be  transmitted  instantaneously  by  electricity." 

This  remark  was  greeted  by  a  smile  of  incredulity,  but 
while  the  others  remained  to  jest,  Morse,  with  pencil  and 
paper,  shut  himself  up  to  deep  and  exhaustive  thought. 
What  an  agony  of  mental  labor  the  little  state-room  must 
have  witnessed  before  this  child  of  his  brain  could  assume 
practical  and  definite  shape  !  And  yet,  before  the  "  Sully  "  had 
dropped  her  anchor  in  New  York  harbor,  the  artist  hand  had 
sketched  not  a  fanciful  creation,  but  the  outlines  of  an  ap- 
paratus which,  by  a  shock,  was  to  bring  the  civilized  world 
into  instantaneous  communion.  But  Morse  was  not  destined 
to  step  from  the  deck  of  the  "  Sully  "  at  once  into  glory  and 
wealth.  Science  is  no  rewarder  of  light  toil,  but  exacts  from 
her  devotees  Herculean  labor  and  a  God-like  patience.  Three 
years  passed,  years  to  Morse  of  indefatigable  labor,  of  ex- 
haustive experiment,  of  infinite  patience,  and  unquenchable 
zeal.  At  the  end  of  that  time  Morse  had  constructed  a  rude 
instrument,  with  a  half-mile  of  wire  strung  around  his  own 
room,  and  this  transmitted  only  in  one  direction.  Two  years 
later  he  had  improved  upon  this,  and  could  both  receive  and 
transmit  messages  by  the  use  of  two  instruments,  one  at 
either  end  of  the  wire.  This  he  exhibited  to  his  friends  in 
his  room  at  the  University,  who  received  it  enthusiastically. 
Alfred  Vail,  both  pupil  and  friend,  became  fascinated  with  the 
enterprise.  The  "  Morse  "  machine  was  specially  imperfect 
in  its  capacity  for  registering  a  message.  "A  pendulum  mo- 
tion compelled  the  register  to  make  only  one  kind  of  marks, 


52  THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH. 

-a  succession  of  v's,  which  could  be  varied  only  by  increasing 
the  interval  between  them  or  by  inverting  them."  Alfred 
Vail  at  once  set  about  devising  an  improvement  on  this 
method,  and  it  was  to  his  ingenuity  that  Morse  \\as  indebted 
for  the  invention  of  the  "  horizontal  lever  motion  to  actuate  a 
pen,"  and  also,  as  a  natural  sequence,  the  telegraphic  alpha- 
bet. Vail  also  devoted  his  personal  services  and  skill  to  the 
entire  mechanical  reconstruction  of  the  Morse  machine,  and 
induced  his  father  and  brother  to  advance  to  Morse  substan- 
tial means  to  enable  him  to  demonstrate  the  adaptation  of 
his  invention  to  practical  and  useful  ends.  Morse  had  long 
since  ceased  to  paint,  and  was  now  entirely  dependent  on  the 
generosity  of  friends  to  finish  the  glorious  enterprise  which 
had  absorbed  him. 

In  1837,  ne  took  his  invention  to  Washington,  filed  a 
caveat  for  a  patent  and  petitioned  Congress  for  an  appropria- 
tion of  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  build  an  experimental  line 
from  Washington  to  Baltimore.  The  reading  of  his  bill  was 
listened  to  with  grave  earnestness,  but  the  session  closed 
without  its  being  acted  on.  This  was  a  bitter  disappoint- 
ment to  Morse.  Six  long  years  had  passed  since  he  had 
struggled  in  the  cabin  of  the  "  Sully "  to  place  his  original 
thought  into  drawings  and  words  ;  six  years  of  unremitting 
labor,  of  baffled  hopes,  of  bitterest  trial  and  disappintment ; 
and  now,  since  he  had  failed  in  securing  an  appropriation, 
the  hour  when  he  would  be  able  to  present  his  ideal  instru- 
ment to  the  world  seemed  withdrawn  to  an  interminable  dis- 
tance. People  everywhere  believed  the  telegraph  to  be  but 
the  fantasy  of  an  idle  dreamer;  and  Morse,  thoroughly 
abandoning  every  other  pursuit,  fought  with  all  the  energy  of 
his  nature  by  pen  and  speech  to  maintain  the  utility  of  his 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  53 

invention.  A  weaker  man  would  have  succumbed  to  the 
difficulties  that  thickened  about  him.  Just  at  this  time,  too, 
as  though  Fate  had  reserved  its  heaviest  blow  for  the  last,  it 
was  announced  that  Steinheil,  in  Bavaria,  and  Wheatstone,  in 
England,  had  separately  laid  claim  to  the  invention  of  the 
telegraph.  Denied  at  home  the  means  to  perfect  an  instru- 
ment, which  should  bring  to  his  country  not  only  renown,  but 
also  revolutionize  her  industrial  and  commercial  pursuits,  he 
was  forced  to  witness  two  foreign  claimants,  aided  by  their 
more  generous  governments,  seizing  the  prize  for  which  he 
had  so  long  struggled.  Conscious  of  his  own  integrity  in 
laying  claim  to  the  invention,  he  determined  to  go  to  Europe 
and  fight  Wheatstone  on  his  own  ground. 

He  had  no  trouble  in  proving  the  priority  of  his  invention 
by  four  years,  and  its  superiority  for  all  practical  purposes. 
Steinheil,  with  the  noble  generosity  of  true  genius,  at  once 
declared  the  superiority  of  Morse's  machine,  and  later  on, 
when  it  became  necessary  to  adopt  some  uniform  system  of 
telegraphy  in  Germany,  he  advised  the  adoption  of  Morse's 
invention.  Morse  then  applied  for  a  patent  in  England,  but 
was  denied  this  because  some  description  of  his  invention  had 
been  published  in  a  London  magazine.  He  went  to  France, 
secured  a  patent,  and  she,  with  munificent  generosity,  bestowed 
on  him  her  brevet  d*  invention,  and  this  to  a  man  whose 
present  and  overwhelming  need  was  money  to  push  forward 
to  its  completion  the  grandest  triumph  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  He  returned  to  England,  and  might  have  secured 
a  patent  by  special  act  had  he  waited,  but  there  was  pressing 
need  that  he  should  be  at  home  to  again  seek  an  appropria- 
tion from  Congress.  Hope  trailed  her  wings  in  the  dust,  but 
his  dauntless  spirit  was  as  fiercely  determined  as  ever  to  con- 


54  THE    MORSE   TELEGRAPH. 

tinue  the  struggle  to  the  death.  Once  more  his  command- 
ing figure  was  to  be  seen  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  the  face 
somewhat  worn  and  weary-looking  from  the  fierce  alterna- 
tions of  hope  and  despair,  but  the  dark  eyes  as  gloriously 
bright  as  of  yore. 

Congressmen  exercised  their  wits  at  his  expense  and 
amended  his  bill  by  making  it  include  a  line  to  the  moon,  and 
pay  for  experiments  in  witchcraft,  Millerism,  and  mesmerism. 
The  reading  of  his  bill  was  but  the  signal  for  a  running  fire 
of  quips  and  jokes,  the  dullest  member  in  the  House  feeling 
himself  called  upon  to  contribute  his  small  share  of  ridicule 
under  such  provocation  !  'And  this,  be  it  said  to  the  ever- 
lasting shame  of  those  who  are  supposed  to  represent  the 
intelligence  of  the  American  people,  was  the  recognition  they 
gave  to  a  man  who  had  already  demonstrated  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  scientists  the  practicability  of  his  invention  !  Had  not 
his  refined  and  sensitive  spirit  been  upheld  by  a  faith  as  sub- 
lime as  it  was  unshaken,  this  continued  defeat  and  heartless 
persecution  must  have  proved  a  death-wound.  Four  long 
years  passed  thus,  till  at  last  the  spring  of  1843  dawned  upon 
the  earth. 

The  profound  stillness  of  mid-winter  was  being  stirred  by 
wild  March  winds.  The  Congressional  session  must  close 
on  the  3d  inst.  Morse  was  there  in  his  old  place,  his  iron 
soul  nerved  to  hear  the  fate  of  his  bill.  He  had  firmly  re- 
solved that  should  he  fail  in  securing  an  appropriation  he 
would  turn  to  other  channels  to  seek  the  money  he  so  much 
needed.  To  Morse,  seated  in  the  gallery,  the  long  hours  of 
the  afternoon  session  were  slow  torture.  Bills  were  read, 
discussed,  passed  or  defeated.  Morse  sat  alone,  the  agony 
of  suspense  giving  an  added  brightness  to  the  dark  eyes 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  55 

gleaming  in  the  pale  face.  None  knew  the  intensity  with 
which  he  listened  to  the  reading  of  his  own  bill  with  its  absurd 
amendment  of  a  line  to  the  moon.  It  was  hoping  against 
hope  that  it  could  have  any  other  fate  than  that  which  had 
awaited  its  reading  in  past  years.  The  same  old  round  of 
ridicule,  the  same  old  jokes  repeated  with  greater  vehemence 
greeted  its  presentation.  Trembling  with  emotion,  Morse 
arose  and  left  the  House.  Having  retired  to  his  hotel  he  sat 
down  and  gazed  sadly  out  upon  the  March  landscape,  now 
darkened  with  the  shadows  of  evening.  Well  might  he  have 
said  with  his  admired  and  beloved  Coleridge : 

" Winter  slumbering  in  the  open  air 

Wears  on  his  smiling  face  a  dream  of  Spring, 
And  I,  the  while,  the  sole  unbusy  thing, 
Nor  honey  make,  nor  pair,  nor  build,  nor  sing. 
*•*•*•*****# 
Bloom  O  ye  amaranths,  bloom  for  whom  ye  may, 
For  me  ye  bloom  not !     Glide,  rich  streams,  away  ! 
With  lips  unbrightened,  wreathless  brow  I  stroll ! 
And  would  you  learn  the  spells  that  drowse  my  soul  ? 
Work  without  hope  draws  nectar  in  a  sieve 
And  Hope  without  an  object  cannot  live!" 

But  the  brave  Morse  did  not  permit  the  dark  pinions  of 
despair  to  close  aroud  him  ;  he  sat  down  to  think  !  Money 
he  must  have.  How  to  get  it,  that  was  the  question.  If  ever  a 
time  came  in  his  life  when  he  might  have  looked  back  and 
regretted  that  he  had  not  made  civil  engineering  his  profes- 
sion, that  time  must  have  been  now  ;  for  if  less  congenial  to 
his  tastes  that  at  least  was  the  most  lucrative.  But  it  was 
not  like  him  to  look  backward,  but  forward.  What  could  he 
do  in  the  immediate  future  that  would  pay?  He  was  done 
with  asking  assistance  at  the  hands  of  his  unwilling  country- 
men. Thirty  thousand  dollars  !  It  was  a  big  sum  and  seemed 


56  THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH. 

now  to  swell  to  impossible  proportions.  He  looked  at  his 
right  hand.  It  had  been  long  since  it  had  held  a  brush. 
Could  itt  relearn  that  facile  touch  and  mystic  grace  of  the 
painter's  art  ?  He  had  sat  so  long  at  the  feet  of  Science, 
would  it  be  possible  for  him  to  win  favors  from  his  old  sweet- 
heart ?  She  had  been  at  best  but  an  indifferent  mistress  ; 
could  he  hope,  being  so  long  forsaken,  she  would  not  turn 
away  altogether  from  his  earnest  pleading  ?  He  was  not 
long  in  making  his  resolve.  The  money  must  be  made  by 
his  own  industry,  and  his  industry  would  be  best  exerted  in 
portrait-painting.  Portrait-painting  with  its  uncertain  and 
wavering  remuneration  would  take  years  to  climb  to  the 
height  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  But  with  an  iron  will  that 
knew  "  no  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning,"  he  could 
transcend  the  almost  impossible.  The  resolve  once  taken,  a 
feeling  of  relief  was  instantly  visible  in  the  face  of  Morse,  re- 
placing the  haggard  look  it  had  so  long  worn,  and  with  a 
patient  smile,  pathetic  in  its  absolute  relinquishment  of  all 
past  hopes,  he  set  about  packing  his  valise,  preparatory 
to  his  return  to  New  York  in  the  morning.  This  done  his 
weary  head  sought  its  long-needed  repose.  "  Tired  eyelids  " 
soon  sunk  upon  "  tired  eyes."  "Sweet  sleep,"  for  many 
nights  a  stranger  to  his  pillow,  came  "  down  from  the  bliss- 
ful skies.". 

March  4th,  1843,  dawned  brilliantly  upon  Washington 
City,  but  nature,  ever  careful  of  her  children,  still  kept  Morse 
in  the  healthful  embrace  of  sleep.  When  at  last  he  awak- 
ened, it  was  to  learn  that  a  lady  desired  to  see  him.  De- 
scending to  the  parlor,  Miss  Ellsworth,  the  daughter  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Patents,  came  forward  to  greet  him,  an 
exuberant  gladness  in  gesture  and  voice.  Placing  both  her 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  57 

hands  in  his,  her  bright  face  glowing  with  expectancy,  "I  have 
come  to  congratulate  you,  Professor  Morse,"  she  said. 

"  Congratulate  me,  my  child  !"  he  answered,  sadly,  for  of  all 
persons,  he  was  the  least  to  be  congratulated,  he  thought. 
"  And  for  what?" 

"  Upon  the  passage  of  your  bill !" 

"Are  you  dreaming?"  he  asked,  excitedly,  the  swift  color 
tinging  his  cheeks.  "  I  stayed  till  it  was  read,  and  it  seemed 
capable  only  of  defeat." 

"But  I  am  not  dreaming.  The  session  did  not  close  till 
midnight,  and  your  bill  was  the  last  acted  on,  and  it  was 
passed.  I  begged  father  to  let  me  bring  you  the  news." 

Professor  Morse  grasped  his  young  friend  warmly  by  the 
hand,  and  as  well  as  joyful  and  conflicting  emotions  would 
permit  him,  thanked  the  bearer  of  the  glad  tidings. 

The  passage  of  his  bill  meant  money.  Money  meant  the 
construction  of  a  telegraph  line,  and  the  construction  of  a 
telegraph  line  meant  the  realization  of  the  one  fond  dream 
that  had  so  long  possessed  him.  No  lover,  who,  with  trem- 
bling ecstasy,  receives  his  first  kiss,  was  ever  so  thrilled  with 
delight.  No  mother,  who,  in  silence  and  awe,  gazes  for  the 
first  time  on  the  face  of  her  first-born,  was  ever  so  solemnly 
glad.  In  the  rapid  flight  of  his  imagination,  he  saw  the  line 
constructed  and  the  messages  flashing  back  and  forth,  the 
stupendous  triumph  of  the  century. 

4i  You  shall  be  the  first  to  send  a  message  over  my  line," 
he  said,  graciously  and  gratefully  tendering  to  the  girl  at  his 
side  this  distinguished  honor. 

With  faith  in  her  gifted  friend,  "  I  will  hold  you  to  that 
promise,"  she  answered.  "  Remember !" 

"Remember,"     replied    Mr.    Morse,    genially,   and    they 


58  THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH. 

parted.  Morse  immediately  repaired  to  Baltimore  and  began 
the  construction  of  the  line.  His  first  idea  was  to  sink  the 
wires  connecting  Baltimore  with  Washington  in  underground 
leaden  pipes.  After  repeated  failures,  he  found  he  had  sunk 
thirteen  thousand  dollars  in  a  fruitless  endeavor  to  lay  the 
wires,  so  the  plan  was  abandoned,  and  he  placed  them  on 
poles.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  this  plan  of  burying  the 
wires  is  at  the  present  hour  again  being  agitated. 

In  the  beautiful  month  of  May,  1844,  Morse  stood  by  his 
instrument  waiting  to  fulfill  his  promise  to  Miss  Ellsworth. 
One  magnet  and  recording  instrument  lay  in  silent  readiness 
in  the  Supreme  Court  chamber  in  the  Capitol  at  Washing- 
ton. A  single  wire  threaded  its  way  through  the  city,  crept 
on  through  marsh  and  solitude,  a  weird,  unnatural  thing, 
found  its  way  at  length  to  Baltimore,  and  in  the  Mount 
Clare  Depot  touched  the  recording  instrument  and  sister 
magnet.  The  supreme  moment  in  the  life  of  Morse  had  now 
come.  Miss  Ellsworth  with  childlike  faith  had  answered  his 
call,  and  now  stood  before  the  instrument,  Morse  by  her  side. 

"  What  hath  God  wrought  !"  the  machine  responded  to 
the  touch,  and  the  words  were  penciled  forty  miles  away  !  In 
the  archives  of  the  Historical  Society  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  is 
to  be  seen  the  original  of  this  message  so  grand  in  its  sim- 
plicity, and  to  which  Morse  referred  at  the  unveiling  of  his 
statue  in  Central  Park,  New  York,  twenty-seven  years  after- 
ward. He  said  in  referring  this  invention  back  to  the  Su- 
preme Author  and  Inventor,  Miss  Ellsworth  had  given  him  a 
refuge  where  he  might  withdraw  when  the  waves  of  adulation 
and  honor  swept  dangerously  high. 

May  27th,  1844,  the  news  was  flashed  into  Washington 
over  this  same  wire  that  James  K.  Polk  had  been  nominated 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  59 

for  the  Presidency  by  the  Baltimore  Democratic  Convention. 
An  evening  paper  had  the  temerity  to  publish  this  dispatch, 
the  first  printed  message,  and  it  was  everywhere  received 
with  incredulity.  When  the  morning  train  from  Baltimore 
brought  the  confirmation  of  the  telegram,  she  put  the  final 
seal  on  the  triumph  and  fortune  of  Morse.  Poverty,  so  long 
his  grim  companion,  deserted  him,  and  in  her  stead  he  found 
wealth  smiling  at  his  side,  Fame,  who  generally  places  her 
laurels  only  upon  the  brows  of  the  dead,  for  once  relaxed 
her  iron  rules  and  gave  him  her  greenest  wreaths. 

Everywhere  the  telegraph  began  to  send  out  her  miles  of 
wires.  No  longer  weird  and  uncanny,  a  group  of  wires  soon 
came  to  be  recognized  as  the  signal  of  an  advanced  civiliza- 
tion. Europe  stretched  forth  her  willing  hands  to  take  the 
Morse  instrument  into  her  domains,  and  ten  of  her  govern- 
ments, at  the  instigation  of  Napoleon,  held  a  convention  in 
Paris  and  tendered  to  Morse  the  sum  of  four  hundred  thou- 
sand francs.  What  years  of  anxiety  and  toil  he  might  have 
been  spared  had  half  that  sum  been  presented  with  his  brevet 
d  invention.  The  Sultan  of  Turkey  presented  him  with  a 
decoration  set  in  diamonds. 

In  the  full  meridian  of  life,  crowned  with  wealth  and  honor, 
his  ambitious  dreams  happily  fulfilled,  Morse  could  now 
calmly  enjoy  that  rest  which  is  so  sweet  after  toil.  He  was 
remarried  in  1848,  and  his  home  in  New  York  he  began  to 
adorn  with  all  the  beauties  that  a  refined  and  aesthetic  taste 
could  suggest.  Here  the  genial  society  of  his  wife  and  the 
mad  romps  of  his  interesting  family  of  children  gave  a  new 
impetus  to  those  fountains  of  affection  in  his  heart  which  had 
been  well-nigh  absorbed  by  the  intense  strain  of  thought  of 
former  years.  The  wealthiest  and  most  cultivated  were  glad 


6O  THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH. 

to  be  welcomed  at  his  fireside,  where  his  refined  and  dignified 
bearing,  his  inexhaustible  fund  of  information,  and  his  genial 
hospitality  placed  them  in  an  atmosphere  of  exquisite  enjoy- 
ment. 

In  the  summer  he  retired  with  his  family  from  the  heat  of 
the  metropolis  to  his  country  home  on  the  Hudson,  a  few 
miles  south  of  Poughkeepsie,  one  of  those  wildly  romantic 
spots  where  his  artist's  eye  could  revel  in  the  contemplation 
of  those  wonderful  and  sublime  pictures  with  which  Nature 
has  here  adorned  her  canvas.  This  had  been  the  only  unful- 
filled ambition  of  his  life,  the  ambition  of  being  an  artist.  We 
can  imagine  him  standing  some  summer  morning  in  this  vine- 
wreathed  Italian  villa  where  the  roses  clambered  and  the 
honeysuckle  hung  its  golden  bells,  with  head  uncovered  in 
wrapt  contemplation  of  the  sunlight  touching  into  gold  the 
languid  river  at  his  feet,  falling  in  broken  shafts  down  some 
rocky  chasm,  or  glinting  against  the  huge  trees  about  him. 
At  such  a  moment  he  must  be  excused  if  for  a  brief  instant 
he  is  compelled  to  cast  a  backward,  passionate  glance,  "  wild 
with  all  regret,"  to  what  he  might  have  done  or  been  in  art 
had  he  not  sacrificed  beauty  on  the  altars  of  science. 

Morse  had  a  commanding  appearance  that  immediately 
attracted  attention.  His  face  bore  the  unmistakable  stamp 
of  genius,  of  patience,  self-discipline,  capacity  for  endurance, 
indomitable  will,  and  a  certain  mysterious  indication  of  re- 
served power. 

In  Central  Park  stands  a  colossal  statue  of  Morse  done  in 
bronze,  the  work  of  B.  M.  Pickett.  It  was  unveiled  June 
loth,  1871,  in  the  midst  of  an  assembly  of  telegraphers  that 
had  come  from  every  part  of  the  United  States  to  do  homage 
to  the  great  inventor.  At  the  reception  given  at  the  Academy 


THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH.  6 1 

of  Music  in  the  evening  enthusiasm  reached  its  height.  All 
the  wires  in  America  were  connected  with  the  telegraphic  in- 
strument on  the  stage.  Amid  intense  silence  Miss  Caldwell 
sent  this  message  to  every  telegraph  station  on  the  continent, 
"  Greeting  and  thanks  to  the  telegraph  fraternity  throughout 
the  world.  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace, 
good-will  to  men.'  '  Professor  Morse,  now  over  eighty  years 
of  age,  his  long  and  flowing  hair  and  beard  of  snowy  white- 
ness giving  a  look  of  statuesque  repose  and  grandeur  to  his 
face,  now  placed  his  hands  upon  the  keys  and  appended  his 
signature,  "  S.  F.  B.  Morse."  Enthusiastic  applause  shook 
the  house.  Responsive  greetings  came  crowding  in  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  from  Canada  and  Cuba,  from  England 
and  Japan.  In  a  few  impressive  remarks  Morse  closed  the 
evening. 

When  spring  again  came  round  and  shy,  capricious  April 
was  playing  her  wild  pranks,  Professor  Morse  "  turned  away 
and  sought  his  chamber  to  lie  down  and  die."  Unlike  most 
men  to  whose  genius  the  world  is  glad  to  pay  its  homage,  the 
foul  exhalations  of  infidelity  had  never  poisoned  his  mind. 
The  faith  bequeathed  him  by  his  Puritan  forefathers  and  in- 
stilled by  a  mother's  fond  prayers,  had  like  a  guiding  star 
followed  him  through  youth  and  old  age,  sustained  and  ad- 
monished him  through  poverty  and  wealth,  had  thrown  its 
silvery  radiance  upon  the  poor  painter  and  struggling  inven- 
tor, and  now  shone  with  increased  splendor  upon  the  illustri- 
ous and  dying  hero.  Death  came  to  him,  not  like  a  pale 
spectre  of  the  night  beckoning  him  away,  but  like  a  gentle 
mother  that  leads  her  tired  child  to  rest. 

"  So  melts  a  summer  cloud  away, 
So  dies  a  wave  along  the  shore." 


62  THE    MORSE    TELEGRAPH. 

On  the  2d  of  April,  1872,  his  immortal  spirit  took  its  ever- 
lasting flight  to  that  realm  where  the  electric  current  of 
happiness  forever  plays,  its  nether  pole  centering  in  the 
Eternal  Magnet,  God  Himself. 


THE  BELL  TELEPHONE. 

Ot  LEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL,  the  inventor  of  the 
\\)  speaking  telephone  and  phonophone,  was  born 
f\  March  3d,  1847,  'm  tne  city  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland, 
^  \  and  received  a  liberal  education,  completing  the 
course  of  instruction  in  the  high  school,  and  after- 
ward in  the  university  of  his  native  city.  Of  his  early  life 
we  know  nothing  beyond  the  fact  that  he  belonged  to  a 
family  already  distinguished  in  the  fields  of  science  and  litera- 
ture, his  father,  Alexander  Melville  Bell,  and  his  grand- 
father, Alexander  Bell,  having  been  distinguished  for  their 
researches  and  experiments  in  acoustic  science.  After  com- 
pleting his  collegiate  education  in  his  native  city  he  went  to 
Wurzburg,  Germany,  receiving  from  the  University  there  the 
degree  of  Ph.  D. 

In  1872  the  family  moved  to  Canada,  where  his  father, 
Mr.  Alexander  Melville  Bell,  became  an  instructor  of  deaf 
mutes  and  a  professor  in  Queen's  College,  Kingston.  Mr. 
Graham  Bell  came  to  Boston  and  introduced  his  father's 
system  of  instructing  deaf  mutes  and  also  became  Professor 
of  Vocal  Philosophy  in  the  Boston  University,  still  continuing 
his  experiments  in  acoustic  science,  which  experiments  led 
eventually  to  his  wonderful  invention  of  the  telephone. 

Mr.  Bell  was  the  first  to  invent  a  method  of,  and  apparatus 
for,  transmitting  speech  telegraphically  by  causing  electrical 

63 


64  THE    BELL   TELEPHONE. 

undulations  similar  in  form  to  the  vibrations  of  the  air  ac- 
companying speech,  and  all  so-called  telephones  which  pre- 
ceded Bell's  worked  by  interruptions  of  the  electrical  current, 
and  not  only  were  not  intended  to  transmit  speech  tele- 
graphically, but  could  not  possibly  transmit,  for  the  very  good 
reason  that  interrupted  or  discontinuous  electrical  currents 
cannot  copy  the  forms  of  the  vibrations  of  the  air  accompany- 
ing speech,  because  such  vibrations  are  continuous.  All 
telephones  previous  to  Bell's  were  intended  for  signaling  by 
the  Morse  system,  and  operated  by  causing  a  receiving 
instrument  to  give  out  a  musical  tone  of  definite  pitch ;  a 
long  tone,  or  a  long  interval  between  two  tones,  and  a  short 
tone  or  a  short  interval  between  two  tones,  correspond- 
ing relatively  to  the  dash  and  dot  of  the  Morse  alphabet, 
in  Mr.  Bell's  invention  the  sound  which  is  made  or  uttered 
at  the  transmitting  station  being  faithfully  reproduced  by  the 
receiving  instrument.  Up  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Bell's  invention 
the  transmission  of  speech  could  only  take  place  by  means 
of  acoustic  tubes  or  of  the  string-telephones.  Bell's  tele- 
phone reproduced  articulate  words.  (The  Edison  telephone 
is  based  upon  the  action  of  undulatory  currents.) 

Mr.  Bell's  researches  in  electric  telephoning  began  with 
the  artificial  production  of  musical  sounds,  suggested  by  the 
work  in  which  he  was  engaged  in  Boston,  viz.,  teaching  the 
deaf  and  dumb  to  speak.  Deaf  mutes  are  dumb  merely  be- 
cause they  are  deaf,  as  Mr.  Bell  has  demonstrated  by  two 
thousand  of  his  own  pupils,  that,  when  the  deaf  and  dumb 
know  how  to  control  the  action  of  the  vocal  organs  they  can 
articulate  with  comparative  facility. 

"My  attention,"  says  Mr.  Bell,  "was  directed  to  the 
mechanism  of  speech  by  my  father,  Alexander  Melville  Bell. 


THE    BELL    TELEPHONE.  65 

Together  we  carried  on  a  number  of  experiments,  seeking  to- 
discover  the  correct  mechanism  of  English  and  foreign  ele- 
ments of  speech,  and  I  remember  especially  an  investigation/ 
in  which  we  were  engaged  concerning  the  musical  relation 
of  vowel  sounds.  When  vowel  sounds  are  whispered  each 
vowel  seems  to  possess  a  particular  pitch  of  its  own,  and  by 
whispering  certain  vowels  in  succession,  a  musical  scale  can 
be  distinctly  perceived.  Our  aim  was  to  determine  the  musi- 
cal pitch  of  each  vowel,  but  unexpected  difficulties  made  their 
appearance,  for  many  of  the  vowels  seem  to  possess  a  double 
pitch,  one  due  probably  to  the  resonance  of  the  air  in  the* 
mouth,  and  the  other  to  the  resonance  of  the  air  contained! 
in  the  cavity  behind  the  tongue,  comprehending  the  pharynx: 
and  larynx.  After  many  experiments  I  thought  I  had  hit 
upon  an  expedient  for  determining  the  pitch,  but  mature  con- 
sideration revealed  the  fact  that  this  deficiency  lay  in  the 
nature  of  the  electrical  current  employed  and  was  finally 
obviated  by  the  invention  of  the  undulatory  current. 

"  I  had  been  invited  by  the  Boston  Board  of  Education  to 
conduct  a  series  of  experiments  with  the  system  in  the  Bos- 
ton School  for  Deaf  and  Dumb.  One  of  the  telephones  was 
placed  in  my  lecture-room  in  the  Boston  University,  and 
the  other  in  the  basement  of  an  adjoining  building.  One 
of  my  students  repaired  to  the  distant  telephone  to  observe 
the  effect  of  articulate  speech,  while  I  uttered  the  sentence,, 
'  Do  you  understand  what  I  say  ?'  into  the  telephone  placed! 
in  the  lecture-room.  To  my  delight  the  answer  was  returned! 
through  the  instrument,  its  articulate  sounds  proceeded  from* 
the  steel  spring  attached  to  the  machine,  and  I  heard  the 
sentence,  'Yes,  I  understand  you  perfectly.'  It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  the  articulation  was  by  any  means  perfect,* 
5 


<56  THE    BELL   TELEPHONE. 

and  expectancy,  no  doubt,  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  my 
recognition  of  the  sentence,  still  the  articulation  was  there, 
and  I  recognized  the  fact  that  the  indistinctness  was  en- 
tirely due  to  the  imperfection  of  the  instrument." 

Mr.  Bell  patented  the  telephone  May  8th,  1876,  and  in  its 
present  form,  June  25th,  1876.  It  was  exhibited  at  the  Cen- 
tennial, in  Philadelphia,  whence  the  story  of  this  wonderful 
invention  spread  throughout  the  world. 

That  Mr.  Bell  has  had  his  seasons  of  doubts  and  discour- 
agements, we  have  no  doubt ;  that  he  has  also  had  his  times 
-of  persecution,  the  history  of  the  famous  telephone  lawsuits 
testify  ;  that  he  has  emerged  victorious  with  wealth,  fame,  and 
honor  to  keep  his  place  among  the  world's  great  inventors 
cannot  be  denied. 

It  is  a  strange  fact  that  important  discoveries  are  often 
made  almost  simultaneously  by  different  persons  in  different 
parts  of  the  world;  and  the  idea  of  multiple  telegraphy  seems 
to  have  occurred  independently  to  no  less  than  four  different 
persons  in  America  and  Europe.  Even  to  the  details  of  the 
arrangements  upon  circuit :  by  Mr.  Cromwell  Varley,  of  Lon- 
don ;  Mr.  Elisha  Gray,  of  Chicago  ;  Mr.  Paul  La  Cour,  of 
Copenhagen,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Edison,  of  Newark,  N.  J. 
Mr.  Elisha  Gray,  of  Chicago,  deposited  his  specifications  and 
--drawings  for  a  speaking  telephone  in  the  U.  S.  Patent  Office 
in  the  form  of  a  caveat  on  the  I4th  of  February,  1876,  a  few 
ihours  later  than  Mr.  Bell's  application  for  a  patent. 

The  first  successful  experiment  over  a  telephone  wire  was 
between  Boston  and  Cambridge,  on  November  loth,  1876. 
.Before  April,  1877,  a  line  was  built  from  Boston  to  Somer- 
\ville,  forty-four  miles,  and  is  described  in  the  Boston  Adver- 
tiser of  April  5th,  1877  :  "The  first  telephone  line  ever  es- 


THE    BELL    TELEPHONE.  6/ 

tablished  has  just  been  constructed  between  the  office  of  Mr, 
Charles  Williams,  electrician,  of  this  city,  and  his  home  in 
Somerville." 

America  not  only  preceded  Europe  in  the  establishment 
of  the  telephone  exchange,  but  in  the  application  of  new 
contrivances,  many  of  which  have  been  adopted  by  the  tele- 
phone exchanges  of  Europe. 

James  Watt  said :  "  That  the  maker  of  a  great  invention 
must  pass  through  three  stages  in  the  estimation  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  public  :  first,  it  would  be  said  *  it  was  impossible  ;' 
next,  it  would  be  said  that  *  he  had  not  done  it ;'  finally,  it 
would  be  said  that,  *  it  had  long  been  known.' '  It  may  be 
added  that  when  an  inventor  has  reached  this  last  stage  of 
attack  he  may  be  certain  that  both  the  reality  and  the  value 
of  his  work  have  been  assured. 

When  it  was  announced  that  the  electrical  transmission 
and  reproduction  of  articulate  speech  had  been  accomplished, 
the  novelty  and  utility  of  the  invention  elicited  the  wonder 
and  admiration  of  the  world.  It  first  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  scientists,  by  whom  it  was  unqualifiedly  accepted  as  a 
novelty  and  a  wonder.  It  was  accepted  at  the  outset  as  the 
unrivalled  discovery  of  a  new  art.  Having  passed  the  cru- 
cial test  of  a  scientific  investigation,  it  rapidly  acquired  a 
commercial  standing  by  reason  of  its  great  utility.  It  did 
not  supplant  other  devices  of  a  similar  character,  but  took 
possession  of  a  field  theretofore  unoccupied.  It  is  an  his- 
torical fact  that  the  introduction  of  valuable  and  important 
inventions  is  productive  of  a  host  of  rival  claimants  ;  and  so 
the  steady  growth  and  assured  success  of  the  articulating 
telephone  as  a  commercial  venture  had  the  usual  effect  of 
developing,  reviving,  and  resurrecting  all  manner  of  inven- 


,68  THE    BELL   TELEPHONE. 

lions  and  contrivances,  both  near  and  remote,  upon  which  the 
shadow  of  a  claim  to  priority  could  possibly  be  based. 
Stimulated  by  visions  of  glory  arid  profit,  all  manner  of  in- 
complete, dormant,  unsuccessful,  and  abandoned  instruments 
and  devices  have  been  brought  to  light,  polished,  and  made 
to  resemble  as  much  as  possible  the  real  article,  in  order  that 
their  projectors  might  obtain  the  profits. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  no  rival  claims  of  priority  to  the 
invention  of  the  electric-speaking  telephone  were  made  in 
any  quarter  until  more  than  a  year  after  the  description  of 
the  experiments  of  Mr.  Bell  had  been  published  by  the  jour- 
nals of  the  entire  world.  The  claims  were  first  put  forth  in 
the  interest  of  the  Western  Union  and  Gold  Stock  Telegraph 
Companies. 

In  the  summer  of  1875  Mr.  Bell  asked  permission  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  to  conduct  experiments 
in  the  office  of  their  electrician  in  New  York.  This  was 
granted,  but  shortly  after  Mr.  Bell  began  his  experiments 
Mr.  Orton,  President  of  the  Company,  learned  that  a  gentle- 
man, who  was  personally  obnoxious  to  him,  was  pecuniarily 
interested  in  Mr.  Bell's  inventions,  and  immediately  directed 
that  the  permission  to  conduct  his  experiments  should  be 
withdrawn.  After  Mr.  Bell  had  brought  his  invention  before 
the  public,  and  was  endeavoring  to  perfect  it  by  experiment- 
ing over  actual  telegraph  wires,  orders  were  given  to  exclude 
him  from  the  Western  Union  wires.  In  spite  of  those  orders 
experiments  were  conducted  over  them,  but  for  a  long  time 
the  results  were  looked  upon  as  possessing  little  practical 
value.  In  1877  the  progress  of  Mr.  Bell's  inventions  was 
deemed  to  have  arrived  at  such  a  state  of  efficiency  as  to 
.threaten  to  be  a  serious  competitor  to  the  telegraph.  The 


THE    BELL   TELEPHONE.  69 

President  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  said  to 
the  electric  expert  of  the  Company,  "  I  have  been  looking  into 
the  matter  of  the  telephone  somewhat,  and  regard  it  as  a 
matter  likely  to  be  of  considerable  future  importance.  If  this 
proves  to  be  the  case  we  should  have  the  right  to  use  it ; 
therefore  I  wish  you  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
whole  subject  and  ascertain  what  are  the  fundmental  princi- 
ples of  the  invention  and  what  inventions  and  patents  it  will 
be  necessary  for  us  to  acquire  the  control  of  in  order  to  be 
able  to  use  the  invention  in  connection  with  our  business." 

Afterward  Mr.  Prescott,  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the 
Company,  visited  Professor  Dolbeare  to  ascertain  the  char- 
acter and  extent  of  his  claims  to  priority  of  invention.  This 
visit  was  made  in  August,  1877,  an<^  resulted  in  an  agree- 
ment between  the  Gold  &  Stock  Company  and  Professor 
Dolbeare,  by  which  the  Company  acquired  the  ownership  of 
and  agreed  to  exploit  his  telephonic  inventions.  About  the 
ist  of  December,  1877,  the  Gold  &  Stock  Company  made 
an  arrangement  with  the  Harmonic  Telegraph  Company  by 
which  Mr.  Gray's  inventions  in  harmonic  telegraphy  were 
also  acquired  and  united  with  those  of  the  Gold  &  Stock 
Company,  forming  the  basis  of  a  new  organization  called  the 
American  Speaking  Telephone  Company.  This  company 
was  to  own  all  the  patents  and  profits  of  the  business,  but 
the  management  was  to  remain  with  the  Gold  &  Stock 
Company. 

In  the  meantime  suits  were  brought  under  Mr.  Bell's 
patents  against  those  who  used  the  telephone  in  this  com- 
pany, and  one  of  them,  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  at 
Boston,  was  vigorously  pushed  for  trial.  That  suit  was  de- 
fended by  the  Gold  &  Stock  Telegraph  Company.  The 


7<D  THE    BELL   TELEPHONE. 

answer  set  up  a  great  variety  of  defenses,  among  others  the 
European  publications  relating  to  Reis's  invention,  and  it 
was  alleged  that  Bell's  telephone  as  described  in  his  patent 
of  March  /th,  1876,  was  not  capable  of  talking.  The  Bell 
Telephone  Company  caused  to  be  constructed  twelve  pairs 
of  telephones,  all  of  which  did  talk  with  practical  success, 
and  all  of  which -exactly  conformed  to  the  description  in  the 
patent.  They  were  constructed  by  different  persons  in 
different  shops,  and  were  tried  by  many  different  persons. 

In  his  charge  to  the  jury  in  this  suit  the  judge  said  :  "  There 
is  considerable  evidence  that  Bell's  experiments  were  not 
entirely  satisfactory,  but  this  is  now  immaterial,  for  it  is 
proved  that  the  instrument  will  do  the  work  whether  the 
inventor  knew  it  or  not,  and  in  the  mode  pointed  out  in  the 
specification." 

Regarding  the  novelty  of  Mr.  Bell's  invention,  the  Bell 
Company  brought  out  many  acknowledgments  by  experts 
that  they  had  never  heard  articulate  speech  transmitted  over 
a  telegraph  wire  by  means  of  electricity  except  through  BelPs 
invention.  After  a  very  vigorous  defense  had  been  made  by 
the  Gold  &  Stock  Company,  and  testimony  at  great  length 
and  expense  had  been  taken,  Mr.  Gifford,  one  of  the  counsel  for 
the  Gold  &  Stock  Company,  became  convinced  that  Mr.  Bell 
was  the  first  inventor  of  the  telephone  and  that  his  patent 
had  been  infringed,  and  advised  the  Company  to  that  effect, 
and  suggested  that  the  best  policy  for  them  was  to  make 
some  settlement  with  the  Bell  Company.  After  many  nego- 
tiations between  the  interested  parties,  the  Gold  &  Stock 
Company  transferred  to  the  Bell  Company  their  exchanges 
for  costs,  and  thus  ended  the  first  attack  on  Mr.  Bell's  inven- 
tion of  the  electrical  speaking  telephone. 


THE    BELL   TELEPHONE.  7 1 

In  July,  1876,  Mr.  Edison  learned  of  Bell's  Centennial  ex- 
hibition of  the  articulating  telephone,  and  in  the  same  month 
the  first  evidence  is  disclosed  of  a  distinct  effort  on  his  part 
to  construct  an  instrument  designed  for  the  transmission  of 
articulate  speech. 

Professor  Dolbeare  began  his  experiments  in  August, 
1876. 

In  1861,  and  subsequently,  Philip  Reis,  in  Germany,  made 
an  electrical  instrument  to  be  operated  by  the  voice.  It  was 
known  as  an  instrument  which  could  transmit  sound,  but  not 
speech. 

In  1869  Dr.  Van  der  Weyde  described  an  apparatus  in- 
vented by  himself  which  could  transmit  pitch  and  rhythm, 
consequently,  melody,  and  nothing  more. 

Mr.  McDonagh,  of  Chicago,  invented  a  machine  that  could 
transmit  musical  sounds,  and  through  which  tunes  could  be 
distinguished,  but  not  words. 

Of  the  various  claimants  to  the  invention  of  the  telephone, 
none  has  presented  a  more  remarkable  history  than  Mr. 
Daniel  Drawbaugh,  of  Eberly's  Mills,  Pa.  Mr.  Drawbaugh 
is  one  of  the  universal  geniuses  capable  of  turning  his  hand 
to  any  mechanical  work  and  doing  it  well ;  as  an  electrician  he 
is  self-taught.  Between  the  years  1867  and  1876  he  claims 
to  have  invented  and  actually  used  every  form  of  telephone 
now  known.  He  began  with  a  transmitter  made  of  a  jelly- 
tumbler  in  which  he  used  powered  carbon  to  vary  the  resist- 
ance correspondingly  to  the  motion  of  a  diaphragm  vibrated 
by  the  voice  and  a  receiver  constructed  from  a  mustard-can, 
but  in  every  other  respect  nearly  identical  with  the  first  tele- 
phone made  by  Professor  Bell.  If  Mr.  Drawbaugh's  claims 
are  sustained  there  can  be  no  question  that  his  position  as  an 


72  THE    BELL   TELEPHONE. 

electrical  discoverer  will  be  wholly  unrivalled.  Within  the 
last  four  years  he*  has  invented  over  thirty  new  telephones. 
At  this  date,  over  a  thousand  patents  in  the  United  States 
alone  have  been  granted  for  various  forms  of  telephones 
and  devices  "thereunto  appertaining." 

In  1819  Sir  Charles  Wheatstone  invented  a  magic  lyre,  and 
in  1831  exhibited  it  at  the  Polytechnic  Institute  in  London. 
He  called  it  the  "  telephone,"  thus  inventing  the  name.  This 
was  for  the  transmission  of  musical  sounds  only.  It  is  related 
that  shortly  after  Sir  Charles  had  invented  this  device  he  in- 
vited a  distinguished  foreign  musician,  a  noted  performer  on 
the  violoncello,  to  dine  with  him.  In  order  to  surprise  his  guest 
he  suspended  a  violoncello  in  his  entrance  hall,  arranging  in 
contact  with  it  a  concealed  rod  which  communicated  with  a 
like  instrument  in  another  room.  On  the  arrival  of  the  vis- 
itor he  was  left  alone  in  the  hall,  and  naturally  his  attention 
was  at  once  attracted  by  the  strains  of  music  apparently 
coming  from  no  visible  source,  yet  clearly  being  produced  in 
the  same  apartment.  Finally  he  traced  them  to  the  instru- 
ment on  the  wall,  examined  it  critically,  could  find  no  reason 
for  them,  and  then,  as  if  struck  with  sudden  terror,  with  a 
cry  of  dismay,  the  affrighted  musician  rushed  out  of  the 
house.  Nothing  could  convince  him  that  the  instrument  was 
not  bewitched,  nor  induce  him  to  trust  himself  again  to  its 
proximity. 

The  idea  of  transmitting  sounds  by  the  voice  through  solid 
conductors  is  known  to  date  back  to  1667.  At  that  date  Dr. 
Robert  Hook  wrote :  "  It  is  not  impossible  to  hear  a  whisper 
at  a  furlong's  distance,  it  having  already  been  done,  and  per- 
haps the  nature  of  the  thing  need  not  make  it  more  impos- 
sible, though  that  furlong  should  be  ten  times  multiplied,  and 


THE    BELL    TELEPHONE.  73 

though  some  authors  have  affirmed  it  impossible  to  hear 
through  the  thinnest  plate  of  Muscovy  glass ;  yet  I  know  a 
way  by  which  it  is  easy  enough  to  hear  one  speak  through  a 
wall  a  yard  thick.  It  has  not  yet  been  thoroughly  examined 
what  other  ways  there  may  be  of  quickening  our  hearing  or 
of  conveying  sounds  through  other  bodies  than  the  air  for 
that  is  not  the  only  medium  that  I  have,  by  the  help  of  a  dis- 
tended wire,  propagated  the  sound  to  very  considerable  dis- 
tance in  an  instant,  with  as  seemingly  quick  a  motion  as  that 
of  light,  at  least  incomparably  quicker  than  the  air,  and  this 
not  only  in  a  straight  line,  but  in  one  bended  at  many  angles." 
In  1880  there  were  three  telephone  exchanges  in  New 
York  city — the  Bell  Telephone  Company,  the  Law  Telephone 
Company,  the  Gold  &  Stock  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Com- 
pany. The  two  former  use  the  Blake  transmitter  and  the 
Bell  receiver,  the  latter  the  Edison  transmitter  and  the  Phelps 
receiver.  During  the  summer  of  1880  the  exchanges  of  the 
Gold  &  Stock  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Bell  Telephone 
Company  were  purchased  by  the  Metropolitan  Telegraph 
and  Telephone  Company,  and  incorporated  under  the  one 
system  and  management,  those  of  the  Bell  Company  being 
adopted.  The  Metropolitan  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Com- 
pany divided  the  city  into  eight  districts,  and  in  each  estab- 
lished a  central  exchange.  These  central  offices  are  located 
as  follows:  New,  Murray,  Spring,  Pearl,  Nassau,  Walker, 
Twenty-first,  and  Twenty-second  Streets.  These  exchanges 
are  connected  with  each  other  by  trunk  lines  and  also  with 
exchanges  in  Harlem,  Brooklyn,  Yonkers,  Jersey  City  and 
other  neighboring  towns.  There  are  in  New  Street  central 
office  ten  young  women  at  two  operating  tables,  seven  at  the 
annunciator  cases,  and  one  boy  to  pass  the  slips. 


74  THE    BELL   TELEPHONE. 

The  New  York  central  office  has  thousands  of  subscribers 
and  hundreds  of  lines  running  to  different  points,  and  aver- 
ages twenty  thousand  connections  each  day,  each  connection 
being  made  upon  both  trunk  and  local  lines  on  an  average  in 
thirty  seconds. 

The  Metropolitan  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Company,  the 
New  York  and  Law  Telephone  Company,  and  other  smaller 
telephone  corporations  are  mostly  submerged  into  the  Bell 
Telephone  Company. 

Number  of  telephones  existing  in  the  United  States,  March  1st,  1880,  138 
"  "  "         1884,  890 

Total  increase  for  the  four  years,  752  or  544  per  cent. 

Earnings  for  rentals  of  telephones  for  the  year  ending  February  28th,  iSSi,        $535,754  8r 
"  "  "  "  1884,       1,695,678  58 

Total  increase  for  the  four  years,  $1,159,923.77. 

From  1884  to  1893  tne  increase  in  the  number  of  telephones 
was  so  great  that  only  a  vague  conception  of  the  enormous 
rentals  may  be  approximated. 

At  Newport  Torpedo  Station  conversation  was  carried  on 
over  five  miles  of  submerged  cable  and  an  equal  length 
of  land  wire. 

Experiments  were  made  between  Dover  and  Calais  over  a 
cable  line  twenty-one  and  three-quarter  miles  long.  Several 
ladies  and  gentlemen  were  present  and  conversed  with  second 
parties  in  France  for  two  hours.  The  cable  was  a  four 
wire  cable,  and  the  conversation  was  carried  on  over  one 
wire,  while  the  other  three  were  working  direct  with  Lon- 
don, Paris,  Calais,  and  Lille ;  and  the  signals  made  by  the 
three  wires  could  be  distinctly  heard  through  the  telephone, 
and,  at  times,  when  but  one  of  the  wires  was  working  the 
Morse  signals  could  be  deciphered,  and  a  message  that  was 
going  through  from  Glasgow  to  Paris  read. 


THE    BELL    TELEPHONE.  75 

Whenever  a  telephone  line  approximates  a  telegraph 
line  the  Morse  signals  can  be  plainly  heard  in  the  tele- 
phone receiver,  and  where  a  Wheatstone,  automatic  instru- 
ment is  at  work,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  electric-lighting 
wires,  where  a  dynamo  is  supplying  the  current,  the  roars 
and  whirrs  heard  in  the  telephone  completely  obliterate  all 
other  sounds. 

Telephoning  over  sub-marine  cables  is  impracticable  for 
long  distances  owing  to  the  effects  of  induction  and  retarda- 
tion. 

Tests  on  artificial  lines,  representing  the  Atlantic  Ocean, 
show  that  probably  the  maximum  distance  over  which  speech 
can  be  distinguished  does  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles.  Conversation  has,  however,  been  successfully  main- 
tained between  Brussels,  Belgium,  and  Dover,  England, 
through  sixty  miles  of  cable  and  two  hundred  miles  of  air 
line. 

In  experimenting  with  sub-marine  cable  before  a  signal  can 
be  made  the  whole  cable  must  be  charged  with  electricity, 
and  if  there  is  not  sufficient  electricity  sent  in  for  this  pur- 
pose no  signal  appears  at  the  distant  end. 

It  is  difficult  to  assign  any  distance  over  which  speech  may 
not  be  telephonically  transmitted.  So  long  as  the  effects  of 
induction  and  leakage  cannot  be  neutralized,  the  possible 
distance  of  telephoning  must  depend  on  accidental  condi- 
tions. Sometimes  it  is  impossible  to  get  speech  over  a  line 
a  few  miles  in  length. 

Cases  have  been  found  where  a  line,  first  passing  over 
water  and  then  over  earth,  or  extending  over  rock  and  then 
ground,  would  refuse  to  transmit  until  taken  down  and  carried 
around  the  shore  of  the  water-course  or  away  from  the  vary- 


76  THE    BELL   TELEPHONE. 

ing  soil.  Speech  has  been  transmitted  between  Chicago 
and  New  York  and  New  York  and  Philadelphia  over  the 
regular  telegraph  wires.  Telephoning  without  wires  is  a 
possibility,  and  promises  extraordinary  results. 

When  an  electric  light  system  uses  the  earth  it  is  stoppage 
to  all  telephonic  communication  in  the  neighborhood.  The 
whole  telephonic  communication  of  Manchester,  England, 
was  one  day  broken  down  from  this  cause,  and  in  London 
the  effect  was  at  one  time  so  strong  as  not  only  to  destroy 
telephonic  communication,  but  to  ring  the  bells. 

Shortly  after  the  telephone  came  into  use  Mr.  Smith  con- 
nected a  piece  of  silenium  with  the  instrument  and  heard  a 
ray  of  light  fall  upon  the  bar. 

Professor  Bell,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Sumner  Tainter, 
was  the  first  to  perfect  an  instrument  to  transmit  speech  by 
a  ray  of  light,  and  to  realize  what  Mr.  Bell  called  the  extra- 
ordinary sensation  of  hearing  a  ray  of  sunlight  laugh,  cough, 
sing,  and  talk  with  articulate  sounds.  This  apparatus  is 
called  the  Phonophone. 

What  improvements  the  future  will  bring  to  the  speaking 
telephone  can  hardly  be  conjectured.  In  the  way  of  loud 
talking  much  has  already  been  accomplished  of  which  the 
public  knows  nothing.  Ordinary  receiving  telephones  can  be 
made  to  talk  loud  enough  to  easily  be  heard  throughout  a 
good  sized  room  at  a  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  feet  from  the 
instrument.  A  good  instrument  should  easily  transmit  speech 
uttered  twenty  feet  away  from  it.  The  ordinary  commercial 
telephones  do  not  do  this,  because  they  are  very  indifferent 
types.  The  great  need  is  a  way  of  neutralizing  the  effects 
of  induction,  leakage,  and  retardation,  and  with  accidental 
conditions  incident  to  all  lines.  When  that  is  accomplished 


THE    BELL    TELEPHONE.  77 

there  should  be  no  more  difficulty  in  talking  between  New 
York  and  San  Francisco  than  from  one  room  to  another  in 
the  same  building. 

THE  TELEPHONE  ABROAD. 

The  Westminster  Review  says :  "  Of  all  novel  inventions 
connected  with  transmitting  electric  telegraph  symbols,  the 
telephone  devised  by  Mr.  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  of  Boston, 
has  excited  the  most  wide-spread  interest  and  wonder. 
Wherever  Mr.  Bell  has  appeared  before  an  audience  to  give 
an  account  of  his  invention  crowds  have  assembled  to  hear 
him.  Nor  is  this  astonishing,  for  the  telephone  professes, 
not  only  to  convey  intelligible  sounds,  but  to  transmit  in  fac 
simile  the  tone  of  the  human  voice  so  that  a  voice  shall  as 
certainly  be  recognized  when  heard  at  a  distance  of  a  few 
hundreds  of  miles  as  if  its  owner  were  speaking  in  a  room 
at  our  side. 

"  Scientific  men  have  had  their  curiosity  and  wonder  excited 
even  more  than  the  unscientific  public  since  a  scientific  man 
appreciates  the  enormous  difficulties  to  be  overcome  before 
such  an  invention  can  be  realized.  The  effects  are  so  mar- 
velous, the  existing,  so  inadequate  to  produce  them ;  for  a 
telephone  message  must  differ  as  widely  from  an  ordinary 
telegraph  message  as  a  highly  finished  oil  painting  differs 
from  a  page  of  print.  In  the  one  we  have  only  white  and 
black,  black  symbols  on  a  white  ground,  the  symbols  being 
limited  in  number  and  recurring  again  and  again  with  no  more 
difference  of  order.  The  painting,  on  the  other  hand,  dis- 
closes every  variety  of  order  and  arrangement,  no  sharp 
lines  of  discontinuity  offend  the  eye,  on  the  contrary,  the 
tints  shade  off  gradually  and  softly  into  each  other,  present- 


78  THE    BELL    TELEPHONE. 

ing  tone  and  depth  in  endless  variety.  The  page  of  print  is 
unintelligible  without  the  aid  of  a  key  ;  the  painting  tells  its 
story  to  any  one  who  has  eyes  to  see." 

In  1880  there  were  two  telephone  companies  in  Paris, 
one  using  the  Gower  telephone  and  the  other  the  Edison ; 
a  third  company  introduced  the  Blake  transmitter,  but  was 
soon  consolidated  with  the  Gower  Company,  who  were  the 
first  to  introduce  the  telephone  annunciator  in  that  city. 

The  Central  Telephone  Office  in  Paris  is  one  of  the  most 
complete,  and  practically  perfect  telephone  exchanges  in  the 
world.  The  central  office  is  situated  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
capital.  The  subscribers  are  connected  with  the  office  in  the 
basement.  The  wires  which  arrive  at  the  central  office  are 
inclosed  in  cables ;  these  telephone  cables  are  placed  in  the 
city  sewers  under  the  technical  service  of  the  administration 
of  the  state  telegraphs.  These  cables  are  suspended  by 
hooks  fastened  into  the  stones  of  the  sewer  vaults.  Each 
of  the  wires  contained  in  the  cable  is  formed  of  a  copper 
conductor,  consisting  of  three  strands  covered  with  a  layer 
of  gutta-percha,  and  afterward  by  an  envelope  of  colored 
cotton.  Each  cable  contains  fourteen  conductors  thus  com- 
posed. They  are  formed  into  a  rope,  covered  first  by  a 
strong  linen  tape  and  then  by  a  sheath  of  lead.  The  wires 
are  of  various  colors  to  the  number  of  seven,  each  pair 
of  wires  of  the  same  color  serving  for  a  single  subscriber. 
These  colors  are  white,  blue,  yellow,  maroon,  black,  red,  and 
green.  Each  cable  is  numbered  throughout,  and  it  is  thus 
easy  to  find  the  wire  when  it  is  necessary  as  well  as  to  change 
connection. 

The  telephone  company  generally  lay  a  main  cable  only 
after  grouping  seven  subscribers  in  the  same  neighbor- 


THE    BELL    TELEPHONE.  79 

hood,  in  the  meantime  subscribers  are  served  by  temporary 
cables  of  two  conductors. 

The  branches  to  houses  are  made  by  means  of  small  spe- 
cial cables  of  two  wires  bound  to  the  principal  cables  by 
means  of  a  ligature  upon  a  lead  conductor.  Every  house  in 
Paris  has  what  is  known  as  its  particular  sewer — this  is  simply 
an  archway  made  under  the  sidewalk,  and  commences  at  the 
side  of  the  house  itself,  and  stops  at  the  main  sewer.  All 
sewers,  except  the  main  collectors,  are  under  the  sidewalk, 
near  the  curb.  The  collectors  are  under  the  roadway,  but 
they  are,  in  fact,  small  rivers  into  which  the  main  sewers 
empty.  To  set  the  little  cable  for  the  particular  sewer  to  the 
outside  they  simply  make  a  hole  close  to  the  side  of  the  par- 
ticular sewer  through  the  sidewalk  and  into  this  sewer,  in  the 
hole  they  insert  a  perpendicular  gas-pipe,  which  projects  six 
or  seven  feet  out  of  the  hole,  and  through  this  gas-pipe  they 
rtm  the  Hide  cable. 

Besides  the  central  office,  subscribers  are  provided  with 
offices  which  are  connected  directly  together  by  means  of 
auxiliary  cables. 

The  Ader  telephone  is  most  employed,  but  the  subscriber 
can  choose  his  apparatus  from  any  of  the  following :  Ader, 
Gower,  Blake,  and  Edison. 

The  double  wire  system  is  used  exclusively. 

The  organization  of  the  telephone  service  in  the  provinces 
is  far  from  being  as  perfect  as  in  Paris,  nevertheless,  they 
work  regularly  in  all  the  large  cities  of  France. 

One  of  the  most  popular  attractions  at  the  Paris  Electrical 
Exhibition,  of  1881,  was  the  demonstration  of  -the  marvel- 
ous powers  of  the  Bell  telephone,  by  its  transmission  of  the 
singing  on  the  stage  and  the  music  in  the  orchestra  of  the 


8o  THE    BELL    TELEPHONE. 

Grand  Opera  to  a  suite  of  four  rooms  reserved  for  the 
purpose  in  one  of  the  galleries  of  the  Palais  de'Industrie. 
This  demonstration  was  given  usually  between  eight  and 
eleven  o'clock,  and  an  enormous  number  of  people  crowded 
the  entrance  to  the  building  before  the  doors  were  open  to 
the  evening  visitors.  As  soon  as  they  could  gain  access  to 
the  galleries  adjoining  the  telephone  rooms  they  patiently 
awaited  their  turn  for  admission  and  the  privilege  of  listen- 
ing for  a  short  time  to  whatever  might  be  going  on  at  the 
opera — solo,  chorus,  instrumental  music,  or,  possibly  all  three, 
until  the  allotted  time  had  expired  and  they  had  to  give 
way  to  others.  In  this  way  eighty  telephones  were  con- 
stantly at  work  at  the  same  time,  the  communication  was 
shifted  at  short  intervals  to  another  set  of  eighty  instru- 
ments in  two  other  rooms. 

The  transmitters  were  microphones  of  the  Ader  system, 
placed  in  front  of  the  opera  stage  close  to  the  footlights  and 
behind  them.  Special  arrangements  were  made  to  enable  the 
one  circuit  from  the  transmitters,  placed  at  the  opera,  to 
the  receivers,  placed  at  the  concert-room  to  do  the  work 
properly. 

A  new  acoustic  effect  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Ader,  and 
applied  for  the  first  time  in  telephonic  transmission  at  the 
electrical  exhibition. 

Every  one  who  was  fortunate  enough  to  hear  the  tele- 
phones at  the  Palais  de'Industrie  has  remarked  that  in  listen- 
ing with  both  ears  at  the  two  telephones  the  sound  took 
a  special  character  of  relief  and  localization  which  a  single 
receiver  could  not  produce. 

Another  interesting  experiment  was  performed  recently 
between  the  Hippodrome  and  the  office  in  the  International 


THE    BELL    TELEPHONE.  8 1 

Telephone  Company.  The  orchestra  of  the  Hippodrome, 
which  plays  during  the  day  and  evening,  was  heard  distinctly 
by  invited  guests  assembled  at  the  Place  Vendome.  There 
were  ninety-six  telephone  receivers,  and  each  auditor  hav- 
ing two  of  them,  forty-eight  persons  were  enabled  to  hear 
at  the  same  time.  The  clearness  with  which  the  music 
was  heard  was  perfect,  and  all  of  the  auditors  were  perfectly 
satisfied  with  the  results. 

The  Swiss  telephone  methods  are  patterned  largely  after 
American  methods.  The  wires  are  run  overhead  and  are  run 
from  the  tops  of  .the  buildings,  the  central  offices  having 
wire  cupolas  upon  the  tops  of  the  buildings,  the  telephone 
wires  used  are  of  galvanized  steel,  and  are  never  stretched 
beyond  a  strain  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds,  the 
sag  being  purposely  made  so  great  on  account  of  the  severe 
climate  of  this  Alpine  country.  The  telephone  transmitters 
adopted  by  the  Swiss  are  of  various  types,  each  having,  they 
say,  its  merits  and  demerits. 


THE    CHURCH. 

HE  vast  agglomeration  of  thought,  energy,  organiza- 
tion, and  spiritual  power  known  to  us,  broadly,  as  the 
"  Church  Universal,"  and  holding  within  its  sphere 
of  influence  men  of  every  conceivable  shade  of  relig- 
ious opinion,  affecting  the  body  politic  of  all  Christian 
nations,  and  exerting  no  mean  power  in  our  own  common- 
wealth— sprang  from  a  lowly  origin.  The  first  Christian 
Church  was  formed  by  a  secession  from  a  Jewish  syna- 
gogue. Afterward  some  synagogues  were  transformed  into 
churches — or  congregations — the  ruling  power  being  vested 
in  Presbyters,  who  ultimately  added  to  their  office  that  of 
teacher,  although  they  by  no  means  held  a  monopoly  of  in- 
struction, messengers  from  other  churches,  or  specially  gifted 
brethren,  being  welcomed  as  teachers  by  the  congregation 
they  visited.  In  these  primitive  days  church  edifices  were 
unknown.  Persecuted  and  despised,  the  followers  of  the 
new  faith  were  driven  to  meet  in  obscure  places,  in  the 
poorest  streets  of  a  city,  in  the  woods,  or,  as  in  Rome,  in  the 
Catacombs.  It  was  not  till  the  third  century  that  Alexander 
Severus  gave  a  piece  of  ground  to  the  Christian  community 
to  build  their  first  church  in  Rome.  As  the  number  of  con- 
verts and  congregations  increased,  the  simplicity  of  these 
early  organizations  gave  place  to  more  systematic  govern- 
82 


THE    CHURCH.  83 

ment  and  more  elaborate  ritual  of  worship,  and  hence  the 
priestly  caste  was  developed  from  the  primitive  Apostolic 
ministry.  The  congregations  fell  into  four  divisions,  and  were 
seated  in  the  churches  in  accordance.  At  the  entrance  of 
the  building,  between  the  porch  and  the  interior,  was  an  open 
space  containing  a  pool  of  water — often  a  fountain — in  which 
the  worshipers  laved  face  and  hands  before  entering,  as  a 
symbol  of  the  purity  indispensable  in  approaching  the  Divine 
Presence.  In  this  space,  which  formed  a  cloister  or  colonnade, 
the  uninitiated  or  inquirers  were  permitted  only  to  stand  and 
look  on.  Within  the  church  itself  the  outermost  seats  were 
allotted  to  the  catechumens — those  under  instruction  in  the 
faith — the  next  were  occupied  by  penitents — believers,  but 
not  yet  in  full  communion — while  nearest  the  altar,  and  the 
speaker  of  the  day,  sat  those  who  had  passed  all  these  stages 
and  become  communicants.  It  was  the  invariable  practice  for 
the  women  to  sit  together  on  the  right  side  of  the  building. 
As  the  congregations  and  buildings  became  larger  the  incon- 
venience of  the  orator  standing  as  had  been  usual  in  a  door- 
way or  on  the  low  steps  near  the  altar,  and  so  being  ineffectu- 
ally heard,  led  to  the  introduction  of  pulpits.  With  the  growth 
of  the  priestly  idea  of  the  ministry  a  change  in  the  manner 
of  preaching  gradually  took  place,  till  in  the  Middle  Ages 
purely  spiritual  instruction  was  to  a  great  extent  superseded 
by  teaching,  having  sole  reference  to  the  rites  and  ordinances 
of  the  church.  The  three  orders  of  the  ministry,  bishops,  priests, 
and  deacons,  remained  unbroken,  their  work  respectively 
being  to  govern,  teach,  and  dispense  charity  ;  the  latter  duty 
being  extensively  shared  as  the  centuries  passed  by  numer- 
ous fraternities  and  sisterhoods. 

During  the  incursion  of  the  barbarians  into  Europe  in  the 


84  THE  CHURCH. 

fourth  century  the  majority  of  the  basilicas  and  smaller 
churches  were  ruthlessly  destroyed,  and  from  the  sixth  to  the 
eighth  century  comparatively  few  were  restored.  Of  those 
that  were  rebuilt,  the  grandest  was  that  of  S.  Sophia,  re- 
stored by  Constantine  ;  that  even  to  the  present  day  furnishes 
the  finest  ideal  plans  to  the  builders  of  churches.  Foremost 
among  monarchs  of  the  earlier  period  who  gave  practical 
encouragement  to  church  building  was  the  Emperor  Charle- 
magne. During  the  tenth  century  a  prophecy  that  the  end  of 
the  world  was  imminent  gained  such  firm  hold  on  the  popular 
mind  that  an  entire  cessation  of  activity  in  this  regard  was 
the  result,  but  the  world  continued  to  exist ;  the  neglected 
work  was  resumed  in  the  following  century,  and  in  that  period 
the  number  and  magnificence  of  the  churches  erected  was 
extraordinary. 

The  favorite  site  for  a  church  was  on  a  hill,  a  predilection  to 
be  accounted  for,  probably  not  only  by  the  universal  tendency 
of  mankind  to  worship  in  whatever  way  on  the  highest  spot 
within  reach,  but  also  by  the  frequent  necessity  in  those  stormy 
Middle  Ages  of  turning  the  church  into  a  fortress. 

The  period  of  multiplication  of  great  religious  edifices,  and 
of  enormous  expenditure  on  their  construction,  was  marked 
by  many  abuses.  To  secure  means  for  this  lavish  display, 
and  the  support  of  the  augmented  staff  of  the  clergy,  the 
people  were  heavily  burdened,  and  methods  of  extortion  de- 
vised that  were  very  far  from  being  in  accordance  with  the 
code  of  morals  enjoined  on  the  primitive  Church  by  its  great 
Head.  Greed,  injustice,  and  corruption  ran  riot  till,  about 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  an  under-current  of  opinion 
began  to  make  its  way  among  thoughtful  men  that  the  time 
was  coming  for  reform.  An  opinion  at  first  kept  much  out 


:^^      ^. .,...  U,^    *» 


THE    CHURCH.  85 

of  sight,  but  as  general  as  in  our  day  and  country  is  the  de- 
sire for  tariff  reform. 

This  sentiment  grew  steadily  till,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  before  the  birth  of  Luther,  it  had  perme- 
ated every  grade  of  society,  and  the  need  of  essential  reform 
was  fully  recognized. 

The  scandalous  lives  of  ecclesiastics,  the  arbitrary  proceed- 
ings of  successive  popes,  and  the  abuse  of  ecclesiastical  power 
aroused  intense  antagonism,  and  not  only  among  the  laity,  for 
many  of  the  higher-minded  clergy  appeared  as  doctrinal 
reformers,  and  seeing  that  there  was  little  prospect  of  the 
pope  inaugurating  a  better  state  of  things,  commenced  to 
take  action  independently  by  earnestly  propagating  their  own 
ideas. 

That  these  early  reformers  were  not  actuated  by  exclu- 
sive religious  feeling  is  tolerably  certain.  In  the  sphere  of 
political  action  the  influence  of  the  popes  was  comparatively 
insignificant,  and  national  reform  (as  Luther  himself  said  in 
1520)  being  needed  as  much  as  that  of  the  Church,  political 
and  religious  thought  became  intermixed  in  the  minds  of 
most  men  of  that  day. 

In  the  upheaval  of  the  old  institutions  that  culminated  in 
the  establishment  of  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  Ger- 
many led  the  way,  followed  by  England  ;  united  Christen- 
dom resolved  itself  into  a  group  of  national  and  local 
churches,  with  the  result  of  large  improvement  in  the  social, 
moral,  and  religious  state  of  the  people. 

While  agreed  on  most  general  principles,  the  various  sec- 
tions of  the  Reformers  clashed  considerably  in  opinion  ;  the 
churches  exhibited  a  litigant  spirit,  and  divided  into  numer- 
ous sections,  these  disagreeing  continually :  a  section  bene- 


86  THE    CHURCH. 

fited  by  some  particular  reform  being  unable  to  see  that  it 
would  not  be  desirable  for  another  section,  who  were  not  in 
need  of  it ;  consequently,  the  two  sections  clashed  just  as  in 
our  day  the  tariff  reformer  of  the  South  disagrees  with  the 
tariff  reformer  of  the  North,  whose  productions,  manufac- 
tures, and  wants  are  of  a  totally  different  character. 

Eventually,  the  people  of  Christendom  divided  into  two 
classes,  which  may  be  described  as  negative  and  affirmative. 
The  negative,  or  Protestant  party,  rejecting  tradition  as  un- 
trustworthy, and  insisting  on  Biblical  teaching  only,  and  the 
right  of  private  judgment  on  matters  of  doctrine.  The 
affirmative,  or  Roman  Catholic  party,  adhering  to  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church,  and  absolutely  denying  the  right  of 
private  judgment  in  interpretation  of  Scripture. 

From  the  period  of  the  Reformation  onward  the  builders 
of  churches  in  England  and  America  have  given  less  atten- 
tion to  the  architectural  aspect  of  their  work  and  more  to  the 
needs  of  modern  congregations.  The  seating  capacity  has 
been  a  primary  object,  and  the  interior  comfort  and  acoustic 
properties  have  been  more  carefully  studied.  There  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  any  unnecessary  care  for  economy  has 
prompted  the  modern  style  of  church  edifices,  inasmuch  as 
in  most  of  our  great  cities  very  costly  sacred  buildings  are 
to  be  found,  but  it  would  seem  probable  that  wealth  is  more 
freely  bestowed  on  these  structures  because  they  are  built  by 
the  people  for  the  people,  and  are  not  paid  for  by  the 
State. 

One  of  the  most  perfectly  modelled  church-buildings  in 
this  country  in  point  of  acoustic  properties  is  the  Mormon 
Temple  in  Salt  Lake  City.  Its  peculiarity  consists  in  the 
floor  ascending  and  the  roof  descending  from  the  altar  to 


THE    CHURCH.  87 

the  far  end  of  the  auditorium,  so  that  the  voice  of  a  speaker 
being  thrown  forward  between  converging  planes  is  carried 
perfectly  to  the  most  distant  point  of  the  building. 

The  one  division  desired  to  retain  all  the  observances  of 
the  established  ritual,  the  forms  and  methods  of  Church  gov- 
ernment, sanctioned  by  Rome  ;  the  other,  or  Protestant  party, 
rejecting  all  of  these  which  were  unsupported  by  Scripture 
or  the  practice  of  the  primitive  Church. 


THE  STAGE. 

^^^^^ 

HE  universal  taste  for  the  drama  in  its  multiplied  forms, 
whether  tragedy,  comedy,  melodrama,  burlesque,  or 
the  varieties  of  opera,  is  beyond  dispute,  and  the 
raison  d'etre  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  absorbing  interest 
of  a  serious  play,  the  gayety  of  comedy,  or  the  hilarity  of 
comic  opera  and  burlesque  are  strong  counter-irritants  to 
the  dullness  and  depressing  influences  of  our  prosaic  every- 
day life.  That  the  majority  of  any  civilized  nation  should 
enjoy  theatrical  entertainments  is  no  wonder.  But  the  motive 
which  prompts  men  to  engage  in  a  profession  which  is  at 
once  arduous,  precarious  as  a  source  of  income,  and  in  which 
the  highest  honors  are  attainable  only  by  a  very  limited 
minority,  is  less  easily  discovered. 

It  appears  tolerably  certain  that  a  comparatively  small 
number  either  of  men  or  women  select  the  profession  (or 
have  it  selected  for  them),  with  the  same  definite  purpose  or 
contemplate  adopting  at  as  early  an  age  as  they  usually  de- 
termine on  becoming  clergymen,  lawyers,  doctors,  artists,  or 
going  into  trade.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  theatrical 
families,  whose  children  are  attracted  by  the  parents'  success- 
ful career,  and  are  frequently  trained  to  the  stage  as  a  matter 
of  convenience  almost  from  babyhood,  the  large  majority  of 
actors  and  actresses  seem  to  drift  into  dramatic  life  almost 
aimlesslyand  under  the  pressure  of  extraneous  circumstances, 
88 


THE    STAGE.  89 

The  life  is  too  exacting,  the  prospect  of  accumulation  of 
wealth  too  slight  to  induce  persons  of  a  practical  turn  of 
mind  to  consider  acting  a  sure  road  to  money-making,  and 
it  is  the  unpractical  mind  of  youth  therefore  that  most  often 
selects  the  stage  as  its  sphere.  The  few  who  become  actors 
later  in  life  are  almost  invariably  amateurs  who  have  tasted 
the  sweets  of  applause  in  their  own  circle  and  in  whom  the 
appetite  for  display  grows  till  only  the  plaudits  of  the  public 
can  satisfy  it. 

Whether  even  public  approbation  is  an  entirely  satisfying 
mental  diet  is  open  to  question,  for  it  has  often  to  be  taker* 
with  the  bitter  herbs  of  envy,  jealousy,  and  hard  work.  Irr 
great  part  the  hopes  and  imagination  of  aspirants  to  dramatic 
fame  are  quickly  disappointed,  insomuch  that  having  been 
"behind  the  scenes"  has  become  a  synonym  for  having  dis- 
covered a  deception.  In  a  very  short  time  the  neophyte  be- 
comes accustomed  to  the  tinsel  and  false  show,  disenchant- 
ment follows,  and  the  theatre  is  no  longer  an  Elysium  but  a 
place  of  business  where  every  one  has  to  work  as  hard  as- 
any  other  mortal  in  the  world  outside. 

While  there  may  be  many  secondary  motives  at  work  in  a* 
young  mind  to  bias  it  in  the  determination  to  act  in  public — 
a  romantic  tendency  that  frets  against  the  commonplace  of 
daily  life,  love  of  excitement,  restlessness  of  temperament — 
the  general  consensus  of  opinion  among  men  of  long  ex- 
perience in  the  management  of  theatres  and  the  training  of 
stage  pupils  declares  personal  vanity  to  be  the  primary  and 
overruling  motive,  whether  the  would-be  actor  be  cognizant 

o  o 

of  it  or  no.  With  the  finer  order  of  minds,  true  love  of  their 
art,  as  seen  in  its  best  development,  springs  up  and  confirms 
them  in  their  affection  for  stage  life.  Others,  when  the 


gO  THE    STAGE. 

novelty  has  worn  off,  are  content  to  look  on  their  profession 
chiefly  as  a  means  of  bread-winning,  and  to  these  it  is  rarely 
a  life  of  entire  satisfaction. 

The  most  painstaking  research  has  failed  in  discovering 
any  data  whereby  the  exact  time  of  the  birth  of  the  drama 
may  be  fixed,  but  its  life  doubtless  owes  its  origin  to  the  uni- 
versal tendency  of  human  thought  and  feeling  to  represent 
in  actual  perceptible  form  its  ideas  concerning  either  invisible 
Deity  or  the  moral  and  emotional  aspects  of  human  life. 
Dramatic  art,  in  the  earliest  ages  wherein  we  know  it  to  have 
•existed,  was  invariably  founded  on  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  some  religious  cult.  Having  once  been  introduced,  the 
dramatic  element  in  the  religion  of  Greece  steadily  increased, 
and  from  the  first  was  intimately  connected  with  the  State 
worship  of  Bacchus,  or  Dionysus  (the  new  name  adopted  by 
the  Greeks  for  Helios,  the  sun  god,  the  idea  of  the  bright 
cheerful  Bacchus  being  associated  with  Helios,  the  dispenser 
of  light  and  joy,  naturally  merging  into  the  worship  of  both 
as  one  divinity). 

In  the  worship  of  Dionysus,  at  Eleusis  and  Delphi,  the 
•deity  was  personated  by  a  handsome  youth  in  a  theatrical 
.performance  representing  his  betrothal  to  the  daughter  of 
the  King  Archon. 

The  earliest  form  in  which  the  drama  developed  itself  was 

.tragedy,  in  which  the  serious  choral  poetry  of  Dorian  worship 

-was  amalgamated  with  the  mimetic  dances  and  the  songs  of 

the  worship  of  Bacchus.     About  the  thirty-eighth  Olympiad, 

Arion,  the  Methymnaean,  is  supposed  to  have  introduced  the 

innovation  of  a  standing  chorus  and  single  characters  speak- 

ang  in  verse.     In  the  sixth  century  B.  C.,  Thespis,  an  actor, 

\whose   native  town  was   especially  given  to  the  Dionysian 


THE    STAGE.  9! 

worship,  invented  the  art  of  "  making  up  "  the  face  with 
colors,  and  also  a  linen  mask  for  the  convenience  of  an  actor 
playing  two  parts  in  one  play. 

The  exact  birthplace  of  Greek  comedy  is  unknown,  but 
this  style  of  acting  drama  most  probably  arose  in  the  country 
and  was  connected  with  the  village  harvest-festivals,  the  name 
springing  from  Kw^dm,  song  of  Comos  or  revels.  Comedy 
soon  rose  from  mere  mimetic  show  to  true  drama,  attaining 
in  time  to  songs,  trained  chorus,  and  systematic  dances.  The 
bulk  of  the  audience  having  in  this  early  period  no  knowl- 
edge of  written  plays,  the  subject  of  a  dramatic  representa- 
tion was  usually  drawn  either  from  a  well-known  public  event 
or  some  court  trial  of  interest,  so  that  the  spectators  could 
readily  comprehend  the  drift  of  the  satire  in  which  the  early 
plays  abounded,  and  appreciate  the  pantomimic  display.  The 
chorus  also  aided  in  keeping  the  motive  of  action  clearly  be- 
fore them. 

The  first  known  Grecian  theatre  was  a  wooden  structure, 
but  this  being  destroyed  by  an  accident,  a  great  stone  theatre 
(the  Lenseon,  or  inclosure  of  Bacchus)  was  erected  in  its 
place,  the  construction  occupying  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  years.  It  was  built,  as  were  those  that  succeeded  it,  on 
the  slope  of  a  hill,  and  consisted  of  a  semicircle  of  steps 
hewn  in  the  rock.  Others,  on  soft  ground,  were  formed  of 
rows  of  stone  steps  built  in  rising  tiers.  The  great  theatre 
of  Bacchus  at  Athens  had  a  seating  capacity  of  thirty  thou- 
sand ;  all  theatres  built  at  that  time  were  large  enough  to 
contain  the  entire  population.  Surrounding  the  seats  there 
was  a  sheltered  piazza,  with  balustrades  and  a  fine  portico, 
into  which  the  audience  could  retire  in  case  of  a  sudden 
storm,  returning  to  the  auditorium  when  it  was  over.  For 


92  THE    STAGE. 

protection  from  the  sun,  a  huge  awning  of  palm-leaf  matting 
or  sail-cloth,  shaped  somewhat  like  a  parasol,  was  raised 
over  the  inclosure.  The  arrangement  of  this  contrivance  be- 
ing difficult  and  dangerous,  sailors  were  usually  employed  in 
its  management.  Besides  giving  shelter,  this  awning  in- 
creased the  facility  of  hearing  the  speakers,  and  its  value  in 
this  regard  has  been  exemplified  in  modern  times  by  the  use 
of  one  (copied  from  that  of  the  theatre  at  Pompeii)  at  the 
Albert  Hall,  South  Kensington,  where  it  has  proved  success- 
ful in  correcting  the  acoustic  deficiencies  of  the  building. 
The  Albert  Hall  holds  an  audience  of  twenty-two  thousand, 
and  the  softest  sounds  of  speech  or  music  are  distinctly  audi- 
ble in  every  part. 

The  attendance  of  a  whole  city  on  an  ancient  dramatic  per- 
formance may  be  accounted  for  partly  by  its  religious  char- 
acter, partly  because  a  play  was  seldom  repeated,  never  more 
than  once  in  a  year.  Plays  were  usually  performed  at  the 
four  Bacchic  feasts  in  the  sixth,  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth 
months  of  the  year,  and  occupied  from  ten  hours  to  a  day  or 
two.  Accessories  to  the  better  production  of  both  tragedy 
and  comedy  came  into  use  at  the  theatre  in  Athens ;  thunder 
and  lightning  were  produced  by  the  beating  of  copper 
sheets  and  the  flashing  of  cleverly-arranged  mirrors,  and 
machinery  was  employed  in  bringing  on  the  clouds  from 
which  the  deities  held  conversations  with  the  mortals  on 
the  stage. 

From  this  period  the  drama  steadily  developed  in  various 
directions,  but  always,  evolved  as  it  was  from  pagan  rites,  in 
accordance  with  the  religious  bent  of  the  public  mind  in  the 
different  countries  of  Europe,  until  the  advent  of  Christianit)r, 
which  slowly  but  surely  undermined  the  power  of  the  ancient 


THE    STAGE.  93 

superstitions,  and,  turning  heathen  Saturnalia  into  a  holy 
festival,  heathen  choruses  to  the  hymns  of  a  pure  faith,  grad- 
ually lifted  the  old  imbruted  world  from  the  pit  of  corruption 
into  which  it  had  stumbled,  and  in  purifying  its  civil  and  re- 
ligious life,  purified  also  its  amusements. 

Still,  the  drama  in  the  early  Christian  centuries  retained  its 
religious  motive,  the  manner  of  performance  undergoing 
considerable  modifications.  The  mediaeval  mysteries  and 
miracle  plays  had  for  their  motive  Scriptural  histories  or 
passages  from  the  lives  of  the  saints,  and  were  performed 
under  the  direction  of  the  clergy.  At  first  these  plays  were 
given  in  the  churches,  so  that  the  stage  accessories  of  the 
later  Greek  drama  were  necessarily  dispensed  with.  The 
performers  all  appeared  at  once,  each  standing  apart  to  speak 
his  lines,  except  the  devils,  who  usually  were  numerous  and  con- 
spicuous, and  for  whom  a  space  was  kept  clear  from  the  spec- 
tators on  the  floor  in  front  of  the  rude  stage  or  platform,  and 
from  which  they  sprang  up  among  the  performers  to  tempt, 
maltreat,  and  otherwise  worry  the  saint  who  was  the  hero  of 
the  piece.  It  is  probable  that  this  arrangement  gave  its  name 
to  the  "pit"  of  the  English  theatre. 

Stage  illusions  were  unknown  at  this  period,  and  the 
11  unities  "  were  not  much  considered  by  the  ecclesiastics 
who  were  the  authors  of  miracle  plays  and  mysteries.  They 
saw  no  incongruity  in  the  appearance  of  the  dramatis  persona 
in  a  body ;  whereas  now  each  actor  who  leaves  the  stage  re- 
turns apparently  from  the  place  where  he  is  supposed  to  have 
been  in  the  interval. 

The  use  of  the  churches  for  plays  was  in  time  found  ob- 
jectionable, and  performances  were  next  given  on  a  scaffold 
built  against  the  church  wall  or  in  a  field  near  by;  later  still, 


94  THE    STAGE. 

about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  movable 
theatres  taken  from  place  to  place. 

The  chief  interest  of  all  these  dramas  was  tragic,  and  they 
are  said  to  have  been  first  acted  in  English  about  three  centu- 
ries before  the  birth  of  Chaucer. 

With  the  advance  of  education  among  the  laity,  and  the 
consequent  growth  of  purer  sentiment,  the  grotesque  and 
rude  character  of  the  miracle  plays  became  distasteful  to  the 
more  cultivated  people  of  England,  and  as  the  poetic  taste 
of  the  Elizabethan  age  developed  secular  plays  became 
popular,  and  mysteries  and  their  fellow-performances  gradu- 
ally died  out.  During  the  period  when  Shakespeare's  plays 
were  making  their  first  impression,  the  playwrights  discovered 
the  value  of  scenery  in  aiding  dramatic  effect,  and  the  desir- 
ability of  excluding  the  audience  from  a  knowledge  of  what 
was  transpiring  behind  the  curtain. 

The  first  secular  theatrical  entertainments  were  given  by 
strolling  players,  often  in  the  open  air,  a  wagon  or  rough 
scaffold  forming  the  stage,  and  sometimes  under  shelter  in  a 
barn.  Even  after  playhouses  were  built  in  the  towns  the 
strolling  companies  still  lived,  and  were  welcomed  in  rural 
places  and  at  country  fairs. 

By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  secular 
drama,  having  made  good  its  claim  on  the  public  approval, 
regular  theatres  were  opened  (presumably  for  the  benefit  of 
the  upper  ten  of  that  day),  to  which  admission  could  only  be 
gained  by  invitation,  which  invitations,  however,  were  not 
free,  the  fee  exacted  being  equal  or  more  to  the  prices  at  the 
public  houses  of  entertainment.  None  of  these  theatres 
were  by  any  means  perfect  in  construction,  although  it 
betokened  great  advance  on  the  Shakspearian  era  that  they 


THE    STAGE.  95 

were  roofed,  provided  with  comfortable  benches,  and 
possessed  scenery.  All  were  under  the  censorship  of  the 
Lord  Chamberlain.  The  scenery  was  rough  and  imperfect, 
often  dilapidated,  and  quite  as  often  entirely  unsuited  either 
to  the  play  or  the  house  in  which  it  was  performed.  But 
methods  continually  improved.  For  special  representations 
new  scenery  was  painted,  the  actors  usually  sharing  the  ex- 
pense with  the  management  (which  was  often  vested  as  much 
in  the  company  as  in  the  ostensible  manager). 

In  course  of  time  the  provincial  towns  became  imbued 
with  greater  appreciation  of  the  drama,  and  theatres  were 
built  in  them,  occupied  at  intervals  by  stock  companies, 
which,  if  not  quite  up  to  the  standard  required  by  metropoli- 
tan audiences,  were  at  least  of  immeasurably  higher  artistic 
calibre  than  the  poor  strollers  whom  they  supplanted.  From 
these  stock  companies  to  the  traveling  companies  of  the 
present  day,  who  after  a  brilliant  success  in  the  great  cities 
take  the  "  successful  "  play  "on  the  road,"  the  transition  was 
easy  and  made  on  an  upward  grade.  The  plays  presented 
now  having  an  infinitely  greater  range  of  subjects,  are  pre- 
sented more  attractively  than  was  possible  with  our  ancestors' 
lack  of  means  to  produce  fine  stage  effects,  and  are  acted  by 
performers  of  higher  mental  cultivation. 

The  first  theatre  in  America  was  built  at  Williamsburgh, 
Va.,  in  1752,  and  claims  precedence  as  to  the  structure  only, 
the  first  dramatic  performances  having  been  given  in  New 
York,  in  1750,  in  an  ordinary  house  fitted  up  for  the  purpose. 
After  New  York  and  Virginia  had  led  the  way,  Annapolis 
and  Boston  followed,  the  first  theatre  in  Boston  being  opened 
in  1792.  As  the  population  increased,  and  the  wealth  and 
higher  intellectual  culture  of  the  nation  grew  even  more 


96  THE    STAGE. 

rapidly,  the  need  of  mental  recreation  was  proportionally 
felt,  and  all  cities  having  a  population  large  enough  to  sup- 
port one  became  each  possessed  of  a  theatre  of  its  own. 

These  individual  buildings,  though  rude  in  structure  com- 
pared to  those  of  our  day,  were  remarkable  for  the  originality 
of  their  arrangement  and  construction,  in  no  case  being 
modelled  after  the  theatres  of  Europe,  an  idea  which  has 
been  preserved  and  more  amply  developed  in  modern  Ame- 
rican theatres.  Neither  in  the  last  or  the  present  century  do 
the  exterior  or  interior  features  of  play-houses  present  many 
points  of  identity  with  the  structures  of  ancient  times. 

Of  American  theatres  now  existent  the  largest  and  most 
elegant  are  to  be  found  in  New  York,  Chicago,  Denver, 
Boston,  and  Kansas  City.  The  Warder  Opera  House  in 
Kansas  City  is  a  very  large  building,  and  was  opened  with 
somewhat  peculiar  circumstances,  under  which  the  audience 
showed  as  much  spirit  of  enterprise  and  enthusiasm  as  the 


management. 


The  first  performance,  given  by  Messrs.  Booth  and  Barrett, 
took  place  while  the  edifice  was  still  unfinished.  For  the 
first  five  nights  the  lowest  priced  seats  cost  two  dollars  and 
fifty  cents.  The  interior  scaffolding  had  not  been  removed, 
the  roof  had  not  been  set  on,  and  the  audience  were  fain  to 
muffle  themselves  in  wraps  and  overcoats  !  Nevertheless  the 
inauguration  of  Kansas  City  Opera  House  was  a  pronounced 
success. 

Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Baltimore,  Washington,  St.  Louis, 
Philadelphia,  San  Francisco,  and  Minneapolis  all  have  thea- 
tres of  superior  structure  and  equipment,  unsurpassed  by 
any  on  the  European  continent. 

The  Tabor  Opera  House  at  Denver  has  some  striking 


THE    STAGE.  97 

characteristics  beyond  its  size  and  beauty.  Notwithstanding 
its  ample  seating  capacity  the  means  of  egress  are  such 
as  to  secure  safety,  let  the  exit  of  the  great  audience  be  ever 
so  hasty,  and  every  detail  of  arrangement  and  fittings  in- 
sures the  maximum  of  comfort. 

The  first  theatre  in  New  York  was  established  in  1750. 
In  February  of  that  year  an  editorial  note  in  the  New  York 
Gazette,  revived  in  the  Weekly  Post-boy,  stated  that  a  party 
of  comedians  had  taken  a  room  in  one  of  the  buildings, 
owned  by  the  Hon.  Rip  Van  Dam,  Esq.,  deceased,  on  Nassau 
Street,  and  purposed  to  remain  throughout  the  season,  pro- 
viding that  the  public  gave  them  due  encouragement.  This 
building  was  on  the  east  side  of  Nassau  Street,  between  John 
Street  and  Maiden  Lane,  and  its  site  is  now  occupied  by 
stores  and  offices  of  comparatively  old  date.  It  was  after- 
ward used  as  a  place  of  worship,  and  the  congregation  occu- 
pying it  eventually  pulled  it  down  and  built  a  church  on  the 
same  site,  which  stood  till  1810. 

Contrary  to  European  custom,  the  prices  of  admission 
made  the  pit  (now  termed  the  orchestra)  the  most  expensive 
part  of  the  house,  the  admission  to  it  being  one  dollar  and  a 
quarter,  and  to  the  gallery,  seventy-five  cents.  In  1751 
boxes  were  added,  the  price  being  one  dollar  and  a  quarter, 
while  the  gallery  remained  at  seventy-five  cents,  and  the  pit 
was  lowered  to  twenty-five  cents. 

The  population  of  the  city  was  then  small,  and  the  majority 
were  apparently  not  enthusiastic  on  the  subject  of  dramatic 
art ;  for  this,  their  only  theatre,  was  closed  in  1752,  and  not 
re-opened  for  a  year.  A  Virginian  company  then  came  to 
New  York  and  played  a  six  months'  season.  A  new  theatre 
was  built  for  them,  said  to  have  been  larger,  more  commodi- 
7 


98  THE    STAGE. 

ous,  and  more  elegantly  fitted  up  than  any  in  the  country, 
but  neither  printed  description  nor  drawings  of  it  have  been 
preserved.  Shortly  after  this  time  an  English  manager  came 
over  and  and  built  a  theatre  near  what  is  now  known  as 
Coenties  Slip,  but  it  was  only  a  temporary  structure,  and  an- 
other was  eventually  built  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Beek- 
man  Street  at  a  cost  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
twenty-five  dollars. 

The  population  had  now  increased,  but  appreciation  of 
the  drama  did  not  keep  pace  with  its  growth.  The  new 
theatre  had  from  the  outset  to  contend  against  much  opposi- 
tion, and  in  the  stormy  times  of  1764  the  building  was 
attacked  and  almost  totally  destroyed  by  the  mob.  Theatri- 
cal enterprise  was  checked  for  awhile,  but  rallied  again  in 
1767,  when  a  theatre  was  built  in  John  Street,  which  existed 
for  thirty  years,  and  a  few  years  latter  another  was  built  in 
Greenwich  Street.  The  drama  had  now  established  itself  as 
an  abiding  inhabitant  of  the  city,  and  from  that  time  forward 
the  growth  of  the  theatrical  element  has  moved  on  a  parallel 
line  with  that  of  the  wealth  and  aesthetic  taste  of  the  people. 

The  smaller  towns  in  New  York  State  are  better  provided 
with  theatres  than  towns  of  the  same  size  in  any  other  part 
of  America. 

In  the  Southern  States  the  architectural  style  of  the  thea- 
tres is  more  of  the  European  character,  and  the  interior 
arrangements  based  on  the  same  plan.  In  New  Orleans  the 
orchestra  (or  pit)  is  the  lowest  priced  part  of  the  house,  ex- 
cept, of  course,  the  gallery.  Baldwin's  Theatre,  San  Fran- 
cisco, is  also  quite  European  in  appearance,  having  tiers  of 
boxes  all  round  the  auditorium,  but  in  this  instance  the  price 
for  the  pit  is  higher. 


THE    STAGE.  99 

Among  the  interesting  theatres  of  the  cities  in  the  Pacific 
States,  none  is  more  so  than  the  old  California,  now  one  of 
the  finest  in  the  United  States,  with  every  equipment  for  suc- 
cessful production  of  the  elaborate  modern  drama,  and  en- 
joying the  prestige  of  being  the  scene  of  the  early  triumphs 
of  Edwin  Booth  and  John  McCullogh. 

Of  all  modern  theatres,  the  largest  and  most  perfectly 
appointed,  is  the  Auditorium  in  Chicago.  The  dimensions  of 
its  stage  are  one  hundred  and  ten  by  seventy  feet,  with  a 
height  up  to  the  bridge  of  ninety  feet,  and  is,  therefore, 
wider,  but  not  quite  so  deep  as  that  of  the  Metropolitan 
Opera  House  in  New  York.  There  is  room  upon  it  for  an 
ensemble  of  over  six  hundred  performers.  The  space  in 
front  of  the  footlights  will  afford  room  for  an  orchestra  of 
ninety  pieces,  and  there  are  three  galleries.  Five  thousand 
opera  chairs  will  accommodate  the  ordinary  audience,  but  on 
special  occasions  the  stage  and  foyer  can  be  utilized  for  three 
thousand  more,  giving  a  total  seating  capacity  of  eight  thou- 
sand. Twelve  thousand,  however,  can  be  assembled  within 
hearing  of  speakers  on  any  great  occasion,  and  a  public 
orator,  after  making  two  speeches  in  the  vast  building  at  the 
great  convention  of  1888,  pronounced  its  acoustic  properties 
absolutely  perfect.  The  Auditorium  is  consequently  most 
perfectly  adapted  for  musical  purposes. 

The  stage,  scenery,  and  curtain  are  of  iron,  and  an  organ 
built  in  is  the  finest  in  the  world.  The  Chicago  Conservatory 
of  Music  will  appropriately  make  its  home  within  the  walls. 
The  rehearsal  room,  which  will  be  available  for  amateur  per- 
formances and  musical  organizations,  will  seat  from  six  to 
eight  hundred  people. 

Not  the  least  wonderful  feature  of  this  marvelous  theatre 


IOO  THE    STAGE. 

is  the  fact  that  it  only  forms  part  of  a  building,  which  for 
immensity  and  general  beauty,  is  unrivalled  by  any  other,, 
either  in  the  old  or  new  world  that  is  intended  for  the  use  of 
the  people. 

The  Auditorium  building  covers  nearly  two  acres  of 
ground,  fronting  the  lake,  with  frontage  also  on  Wabash 
Avenue  and  Congress  Street,  the  total  being  seven  hundred 
and  ten  feet.  Thirty-seven  hundred  tons  of  iron-work  have 
been  required  for  the  work,  the  substructure  is  of  dark 
granite,  the  pillars  of  polished  granite,  and  the  superstruc- 
ture of  lighter  stone.  There  are  ten  stones,  with  a  square 
tower  forty  by  seventy-one  feet,  rising  one  hundred  feet  above 
the  roof,  and  having  seventeen  stories.  The  platform  of  the 
tower  will  accommodate  several  hundred  persons,  and  is 
reached  by  a  special  elevator.  This  forms  a  fine  observa- 
tory, and  the  United  States  Signal  Service  have  given  notice 
of  their  desire  for  quarters  on  the  top  floor. 

The  Michigan  Avenue  front  is  a  hotel,  with  foyers  on  the 
ground  floor,  about  four  hundred  rooms  almost  all  having 
southern  or  eastern  exposure,  and  a  magnificent  dining-room 
on  the  tenth  floor. 

The  building  is  absolutely  fire-proof,  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  having  been  expended  on  fire-proof  material 
alone.  The  Auditorium  is  supplied  with  three  thousand 
Edison  incandescent  electric  lights. 

Apart  from  the  hotel  and  auditorium,  about  one-third  of 
the  building  will  be  devoted  to  art  and  education. 


THE  NEWSPAPER. 

'  HE  average  reader,  as  he  takes  up  his  daily  journal, 
almost  as  a  matter  of  habit,  rarely  pauses  to  con- 
1  sider — frequently  does  not  even  know — the  enormous 
amount  of  mental,  mechanical,  and  manual  work,  and 
the  infinite  ramifications  of  systematized  labor  that  combine 
and  have  their  final  culmination  in  the  sheet  of  printed  matter 
that  he  so  carelessly  handles.  In  England  the  newspaper 
has  been  called  the  fourth  estate  of  the  realm ;  in  America  it 
is  the  second  power  in  the  State,  the  people  themselves  alone 
being  above  it.  There  are  in  the  United  States  in  this  year, 
1888,  fourteen  thousand  two  hundred  newspapers ;  and  the 
period  of  this  extraordinary  growth  from  the  time  when  there 
was  but  one  covers  about  one  hundred  years,  its  higher  and 
more  rapid  development  having  taken  place  within  about 
thirty  years.  Since  its  solid  establishment  in  our  country, 
the  newspaper  has  not  only  grown  with  the  people,  but  has 
been  a  prominent  factor  in  their  growth,  following  closely  be- 
hind the  pioneers  as  the  population  has  spread  westward ; 
and  doing  so  literally  during  the  building  of  the  Pacific  rail- 
road, when  the  Frontier  Index  had  a  peripatetic  office  which 
kept  just  ahead  of  the  rails  and  locomotives. 

In   its  earliest  days   the  newspaper,  strange  to  say,  con- 
tained   everything    but   news.      The    "  powers   that   were " 

101 


IO2  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

strongly  objected  to  the  enlightenment  of  the  people  as  to 
their  doings,  so  that  discussions  on  any  subject  except 
domestic  policy  filled  its  pages,  and  the  little  news  inserted 
was  chiefly  foreign.  It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  when  the  breath  of  revolution  was  stirring 
the  air,  that  the  newspaper  began  to  exert  any  power,  and 
the  cities  that  possessed  a  newspaper  became  centres  of  in- 
fluence and  political  agitation,  while  journalists  began  their 
earliest  attempts  to  mold  public  opinion.  Soon  the  need 
was  felt  of  better  and  more  newspapers,  and  with  this  need 
came  the  demand  for  more  adequate  machinery  of  produc- 
tion. Inventions  continually  sprang  into  life,  each  succeeding 
printing-press  became  more  complex,  more  rapid,  and  during 
the  last  decade  the  inventions  in  this  line  have  been  increas- 
ingly marvelous. 

American  journalism  is  now  in  its  hundred  and  thirty- 
second  year,  the  oldest  living  newspaper  in  the  United 
States,  the  New  Hampshire  Gazette,  having  been  issued  in 
1756.  -But  the  very  first  newspaper  in  the  country  was 
Publick  Occurrences,  issued  in  Boston,  September  25th,  1690,, 
by  Richard  Pearce  for  Richard  Harris.  The  life  of  the  infant 
journal  was  extremely  brief.  The  good  citizens  of  Boston 
took  umbrage  at  the  dangerous  innovation  of  letting  light  in 
upon  domestic  and  civic  life,  and  pronounced  such  literature 
improper  and  pernicious  to  young  minds,  while  the  govern- 
ment took  exception  to  having  its  proceedings  discussed  by 
outsiders,  and  summarily  suppressed  the  enterprise  before 
the  second  edition  could  be  brought  out.  For  a  while  news 
could  only  be  circulated  by  means  of  letters,  pamphlets,  or 
circulars  ;  but  the  spirit  of  journalism,  once  it  became  instinct 
with  life,  might  be  scotched  but  not  killed;  and  in  1696  Ben- 


THE    NEWSPAPER.  IOJ: 

jamin  Fletcher,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  New  York,  induced1 
William  Bradford,  a  printer  of  Philadelphia,  to  set  up  in  New 
York  and  reprint  the  London  Gazette,  which  gave  an  account 
of  an  eno-a^ement  with  the  French  a  little  while  before  the 

o     o 

peace  of  Ryswick.  This  was  the  first  victory  of  the  free 
press  of  America  over  government. 

The  Boston  Newsletter  (which  is  commonly  spoken  of  as 
the  first  American  newspaper)  was  issued  in  1704.  The 
editor  was  Postmaster  John  Campbell ;  but  succeeding 
editors  usually  followed  some  other  calling,  the  majority; 
keeping  the  taverns  which  represented  the  modern  res- 
taurant, probably  selecting  that  trade  as  the  likeliest  to  afford1 
the  daily  bread  that  they  saw  no  hope  of  getting  out  of  jour- 
nalism. Strangers  in  Boston  inquiring  for  the  newspaper 
were  directed  to  the  tavern,  and  for  some  now  undiscoverable 
reason  were,  on  asking  for  a  copy,  required  to  give  refer- 
ences. The  tavern  was  probably  also  regarded  as  a  desirable 
location  for  the  editor's  office  from  its  being  a  centre  of 
gossip  and  newsgathering.  In  1719,  William  Prooker,  who 
superseded  Campbell  as  Postmaster,  started  a  paper  of  his 
own,  the  Boston  Gazette,  the  second  in  the  country,  where- 
upon Campbell  waxed  indignant,  and  the  first  newspaper 
quarrel  was  put  on  record.  It  was  exceedingly  fierce  and; 
bitter,  after  the  fashion  set  by  the  London  newspapers  nearly 
a  century  earlier.  The  day  after  the  Gazette  appeared, 
Postmaster  Andrew  Bradford  issued  the  American  Weekly 
Mercury,  and  two  years  after,  in  1721,  James  and  Benjamin 
Franklin  sent  out  the  first  number  of  the  New  England 
Courant.  Journalistic  warfare  now  increased,  but  at  length 
the  Franklins  were  too  strong  for  their  adversaries,  and 
Campbell  sold  his  Newsletter  to  Bartholomew  Green.  Mean- 


IO4  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

while  popular  culture  had  increased,  and  a  higher  order  of 
newspapers  was  demanded ;  editors  recognized  the  need  of 
cultivating  the  peculiar  talent  required  in  newspaper  writing, 
and  journalism  became  a  profession. 

In  1727,  Boston  had  four  thriving  papers,  and  Maryland 
one,  the  Maryland  Gazette.  In  1733,  the  New  York  Weekly 
Journal  was  established  by  John  Peter  Zengen,  who  was  im- 
prisoned for  libel  on  the  Government,  and  whose  trial,  and 
.acquittal  through  the  efforts  of  Andrew  Hamilton,  then  leader 
•of  the  Pennsylvania  Bar,  was  the  first  great  triumph  of  free- 
dom of  speech  and  of  the  American  Press.  About  this  time, 
.South  Carolina  and  Virginia  each  started  a  paper;  both, 
however,  were  temporarily  unsuccessful,  but  were  eventually 
revived.  In  1742,  William  Bradford,  grandson  of  the  printer, 
started  the  Pennsylvania  Journal,  which  vigorously  supported 
Colonial  freedom.  In  1775,  Kentucky  and  Ohio  each  set  up 
a  newspaper  in  their  respective  capitals,  which,  after  chang- 
ing from  name  to  name  and  hand  to  hand,  still  exist,  and 
have  a  good  circulation.  During  the  revolutionary  period 
several  religious  papers  came  out,  but  were  soon  dropped 
again.  In  1 748,  only  six  greater  cities  supported  newspapers, 
viz. :  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Annapolis,  Williams- 
burg,  and  Charleston,  S.  C.  In  the  same  year  Samuel 
Adams  created  the  Independent  Advertiser,  in  Boston,  and 
.ardently  supported  the  revolutionary  party.  The  sentiment 
of  freedom  was  rapidly  growing,  and  the  Boston  Gazette 
became  the  organ  of  the  leaders  who  demanded  Colonial 
freedom.  It  was  not  the  ideal  newspaper  of  to-day  ;  con- 
sisting only  of  two  pages,  printed  on  a  half-sheet  of  crown 
\paper.  Some  seventeen  or  eighteen  newspaper  publica- 
tions appeared  now  at  various  times,  the  Virginia  Gazette, 


THE    NEWSPAPER.  1 05 

in  1766,  being  the  first  to  publish  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

In  opposition  to  these  revolutionary  papers,  the  British  had 
their  own,  the  principal  being  Rivingtoris  Gazette,  N.  Y.r 
which  had  its  office  frequently  mobbed  by  patriots,  and  the 
Chronicle  in  Boston,  which  shared  the  same  polite  attentions 
from  the  people.  Major  Andre  was  one  of  the  chief  contrib- 
utors to  Rivingtoris.  From  1748  to  1783  forty-nine  news- 
papers, weekly  and  semi-weekly,  were  set  up,  but  of  all 
started  between  1690  and  1783,  only  forty-three  were  extant 
at  the  time  of  the  peace. 

The  first  daily,  The  American  Daily  Advertiser  (now  the 
North  American]  came  into  existence  in  Philadelphia  in  1 784,. 
and  was  followed  in  New  York  by  the  New  York  Daily  Ad- 
vertiser. In  1786  the  Pittsburgh  (Pa.)  Gazette  was  founded, 
and  still  lives.  A  large  number  of  unsuccessful  papers  now 
sprang  up  in  succession,  but  few  succeeded,  nine  being 
swallowed  up  by  the  Philadelphia  North  American  between 
1771  and  1848.  Of  many  hundreds  set  up  in  New  York 
alone,  from  1725  to  1827,  only  two  now  exist,  the  Commercial 
Advertiser  and  Evening  Post.  The  very  names  of  defunct 
newspapers  since  1 690  would  nearly  fill  the  entire  pages  of 
one  of  our  present  dailies. 

Prior  to  1820,  the  editions  of  all  papers  were  small  and 
their  production  a  work  of  difficulty.  The  publishers  had  to 
contend  against  bad  and  expensive  paper,  battered  type,  oily 
ink,  uneven  impression,  and  a  host  of  minor  vexations ;  the 
methods  of  printing  were  cumbrous  and  slow,  news  was  not 
easily  procured,  and  the  absence  of  facilities  for  distribution 
(none  being  sold  on  the  streets),  combined  with  the  other  diffi- 
culties to  keep  editions  small  and  prices  high.  Up  to  1830 


IO6  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

the  regular  price  was  twenty-four,  sometimes  twenty-eight 
•cents.  Another  drawback  to  extensive  printing  was  the  fact 
that  up  to  this  time  there  were  but  two  type  foundries  in  the 
country,  the  first  being  that  of  Binney  &  Ronaldson  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

About  1835  Mr.  (now  the  Hon.  Byron)  Weston  instructed 
the  wood-pulp  inventors  how  to  turn  out  their  first  sheets  of 
writing  paper,  a  most  valuable  improvement.  The  endless 
web  of  paper  had  been  invented  in  1804,  but  printing  on  it 
was  not  thought  of  till  many  years  later.  The  old  cumbrous 
wooden  presses  had  been  found  quite  inadequate  about  that 
time,  and  in  1807  the  first  iron  press  was  set  up  by  George 
Clymer,  of  Philadelphia.  The  Washington,  Adams,  and 
Hoe  hand  presses  followed,  and  in  1821  the  first  power  press 
was  produced  by  Daniel  Treadwell,  of  Boston,  and  was  later 
used  by  the  American  Bible  Society  in  New  York. 

After  a  year  or  two  more  than  twenty  power  presses  were 
in  operation,  and  the  first  used  for  newspapers  was  employed 
in  printing  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  and  soon  after  was 
adopted  in  New  York.  One  invention  must  always  be  suc- 
ceeded by  supplementary  inventions  to  insure  success,  and 
the  power  presses  led  to  the  employment  of  composition 
rollers  in  1814  ;  prior  to  which  time  ink  had  been  applied  on 
leather  balls  held  in  each  hand  and  rolled  against  each  other 
over  the  type.  The  greater  facilities  for  printing  demanded 
a  larger  supply  of  type,  and  type  foundries  came  one  after 
another  into  existence.  With  the  increased  ease  of  produc- 
tion there  came  naturally  a  decrease  in  price,  and  in  1830  a 
paper  appeared  in  New  York  with  the  innovation  of  local 
added  to  general  news,  and  at  the  amazing  price  of  one  cent. 
This  was  the  New  York  Sun,  and  in  1835  tne  New  York 


THE    NEWSPAPER.  1 07 

Herald  appeared  at  the  same  price  ;  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  both  having  continued  to  the  present  day.  In  1841 
Horace  Greeley  and  H.  D.  Sheppard  followed  suit  with  the 
New  York  Tribune  at  the  same  price  ;  commencing  their 
career  on  a  borrowed  capital  of  one  thousand  dollars,  and  with 
a  subscription  list  of  five  hundred.  This  venture  failed,  not 
from  any  lack  of  editorial  ability,  but  from  financial  difficulty. 
The  Tribune,  however,  revived,  and  has  been  among  the 
foremost  of  the  great  dailies  in  accepting  improved  methods. 
The  original  Tribune  contained  no  more  matter  than  to-day's 
Tribune  holds  on  a  single  leaf,  and  a  flat  press  turning  out 
one  thousand  five  hundred  papers  an  hour  was  amply  suffi- 
cient for  the  demand.  Two  or  three  men,  working  from  mid- 
night to  six  A.  M.,  could  get  out  as  large  an  edition  as  was 
wanted.  The  stereotype  was  as  yet  unknown,  therefore,  the 
scope  of  the  journal  was  very  limited  ;  there  was  no  late 
news,  no  early  sales,  and  no  out-of-town  circulation. 

In  this  same  year  (1835),  The  Baltimore  Sun  and  Philadel- 
phia Ledger  were  established. 

The  conjoined  influence  of  home  news  and  low  prices  com- 
pletely revolutionized  journalism.  A  large  number  of  news- 
papers gave  more  space  to  news  and  less  to  discussion,  and 
all  lowered  their  prices. 

It  was  foreseen  about  this  time  that  no  single  press  would 
shortly  be  able  to  print  the  number  of  editions  growing  in 
demand,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  devise  means  of 
applying  the  papier-mache  stereotyping  process  to  newspaper 
work.  The  problem  was  difficult ;  for  the  utmost  time  a 
daily  paper  could  allow  for  the  entire  operation  of  taking  the 
matrix,  drying,  making  a  cast,  cooling,  trimming,  and  finishing, 
was  half  an  hour.  At  last,  after  some  years,  Mr.  Charles 


IO8  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

Craske,  of  New  York,  arrived  at  a  solution  of  the  difficulty  in 
1861,  and  his  plan  was  adopted  first  by  the  Tribune,  just  in 
time  to  enable  it  to  meet  the  demand  for  increased  editions 
consequent  on  the  intense  interest  aroused  in  the  public 
mind  by  the  war.  Other  journals  quickly  took  up  the  new 
process,  and  some  editions  at  this  period  rose  to  the  unpre- 
cedented number  of  an  average  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  copies  per  week. 

The  first  web  perfecting  press  capable  of  producing  a  large 
morning  newspaper  was  built  in  1861,  by  William  Bullock, 
of  Pittsburgh,  for  the  Cincinnati  Times,  but  it  was  several 
years  before  he  produced  the  improved  press  capable  of 
turning  out  ten  thousand  perfect  papers  an  hour.  The  limit 
of  number  was  found  in  the  impossibility  of  delivering  beyond 
a  certain  rate  from  the  fly.  In  1877,  Richard  M.  Hoe  and 
Stephen  D.  Tucker  obviated  that  difficulty  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  an  accumulating  cylinder,  which  increased  the  produc- 
tion to  eighteen  thousand  per  hour.  Colonel  Hoe's  next  im- 
provement was  the  double  cylinder,  giving  off  two  thousand 
per  hour.  This  was  followed  by  the  lightning  rotary  press, 
with  four  to  ten  revolving  cylinders,  giving  from  four  to  ten 
thousand  impressions  per  hour.  Up  to  now,  in  all  machines 
the  separate  sheets  were  fed  by  hand  and  delivered  flat.  The 
many-cylinder  press  was  gradually  abandoned  as  the  perfect- 
ing press  came  into  use. 

The  lightning  rotary  was  soon  followed  by  the  Hoe  self- 
feeding  perfecting  press,  delivering  flat  sheets  printed  on 
both  sides  at  the  rate  of  twelve  thousand  papers  per  hour, 
while  yet  another  improvement  gave  a  machine  that  printed, 
cut,  pasted,  and  folded  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  thousand  per 
hour.  The  double  perfecting  press  next  made  its  appear- 


THE    NEWSPAPER.  1 09 

ance,  and  was  a  great  advance  on  all  others,  increasing  the 
productive  power  to  thirty  thousand  per  hour,  cut,  pasted, 
and  folded  to  one-eighth  page. 

The  inventive  genius  of  the  principals  in  the  Hoe  estab- 
lishment discovered  even  greater  possibilities  of  achievement, 
however,  and  a  double  stereotype  insetting  press  was  the  next 
step  of  these  successive  grand  evolutions  ;  delivering  papers, 
folded  half-page  size,  with  the  supplements,  if  desired,  pasted  in, 
running  at  a  speed  of  twenty-four  thousand  eighteen,  or  twelve 
pages  per  hour.  This  idea  of  making  a  newspaper  any  of 
these  sizes  at  will,  the  pages  all  made  fast  to  each  other,  was 
found  exceedingly  useful,  and  was  followed  by  marvelous 
results.  A  double  stereotype  insetting  supplement  press  was 
made,  turning  out  eight-page  papers  at  forty-eight  thousand 
per  hour ;  also  twenty-four  thousand  ten  or  twelve-page 
papers.  The  precision  and  accuracy  of  these  machines  is 
wonderful.  Night  after  night,  day  after  day,  year  in  and  year 
out,  they  run  without  wear  or  breaking,  unceasingly  produc- 
ing the  same  exact  results.  The  paper  for  Hoe's  perfecting 
press  is  made  in  continuous  rolls,  of  the  width  desired  for  any 
particular  newspaper  press,  averaging  about  four  miles  in 
length.  The  paper  having  been  dampened  by  an  ingenious 
contrivance  by  which  a  spray  as  fine  as  mist  is  thrown  on  it, 
it  is  lifted  from  the  wetting  frame  by  a  movable  hoisting 
apparatus  suspended  over  the  centre  of  the  machine  so  that 
its  free  end  drops  into  the  place  that  receives  it.  In  the  great 
quadruple  press  of  the  New  York  World,  however,  the  huge 
roll  of  paper  is  placed  near  the  floor,  giving  greater  steadi- 
ness to  the  machine  and  more  facility  in  handling. 

The  quadruple  press  just  mentioned  stands  at  present  at 
the  head  of  all  printing  machines  in  productive  power;  but 


110  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

where  the  development  of  the  newspaper  printing  press  will 
end,  no  man  may  venture  to  predict.  Mr.  Carpenter,  of  the 
Hoe  Company,  being  lately  asked  that  question  only  replied 
that  whatever  the  future  might  bring  forth,  it  could  have  no 
surprises  for  him.  The  World  has  the  equivalent  in  this  quad- 
ruple press  of  twenty  single  perfecting  machines  having  a  pro- 
ductive power  of  two  hundred  thousand  eight-page  papers  an 
hour.  Seventy-one  men  and  boys  now  do  all  the  work  re- 
quired in  the  press-room.  To  turn  out  the  same  amount  of 
printed  matter  in  the  same  time  would  require  eight  thousand 
screw  presses  producing  twenty-five  papers  an  hour,  with  a 
man  and  boy  to  each  ;  eight  thousand  men  and  eight  thou- 
sand boys ;  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  boys  more  would 
be  needed  to  cut,  paste,  and  fold.  Other  men  and  boys  would 
be  required  for  the  various  work  of  the  press-room,  so  that  no 
less  than  sixteen  thousand  five  hundred  men  and  boys  would 
be  needed  to  get  out  an  edition  of  two  hundred  thousand 
eight-page  papers  in  an  hour.  In  such  a  case  it  is  needless 
to  add  the  work  would  not  be  attempted.  No  newspaper 
could  afford  rent  for  a  press-room  large  enough  to  contain 
eight  thousand  presses  and  sixteen  thousand  five  hundred 
workmen,  not  to  speak  of  the  item  of  wages  :  neither  would 
any  mill  be  required,  as  at  present,  to  turn  out  forty  tons  of 
4i  news''  paper  in  a  day. 

To  the  uninitiated,  the  quadruple  press  appears  complicated 
and  bewildering  in  appearance  and  action  ;  but  the  makers, 
who  ought  to  know  best,  declare  it  to  be  "essentially  simple." 
From  the  moment  the  paper  enters  on  its  swift  journey  to 
that  when  it  is  delivered  a  complete  newspaper  by  the  folder, 
its  course  is  direct  and  continuous,  unassisted  by  a  single 
human  hand.  A  year  was  required  for  the  building  of  this 


THE    NEWSPAPER.  I  I  I 

machine,  which  is  composed  of  six  thousand  five  hundred 
parts,  and  weighs  about  one  hundred  and  six  thousand  pounds, 
or  fifty-three  tons.  The  great  roll  of  paper  for  the  main 
press  is  about  six  feet  wide,  weighs  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred pounds,  and  requires  two  men  with  block  and  tackle  to 
handle.  The  width  of  the  margin  of  the  printed  page  is 
regulated  by  a  screw  controlled  by  a  hand  at  the  head  of  the 
paper-roll  spindle.  A  set  of  leather  belts  carry  the  papers 
out  of  the  folding  machine  and  automatically  count  them  in 
piles  of  fifty  as  they  move  out  of  the  machine. 

This  great  press  only  requires  three  men  and  two  boys  to 
attend  to  it,  but  the  noise  it  makes  is  terrific,  rendering  con- 
versation utterly  impossible.  The  invention  of  the  triple  and 
quadruple  does  not  make  the  smaller  perfecting  presses  any 
the  less  desirable,  as  these  are  in  use  all  over  the  country  in 
the  smaller  offices,  and  for  daily  papers  of  small  circulation. 
About  six  or  seven  firms  are  engaged  in  their  manufacture. 

The  very  latest  development  of  speed  has  been  attained 
by  a  press  now  in  course  of  construction  by  the  Hoe  Com- 
pany for  one  of  many  enterprising  daily  publications,  which 
prints,  folds,  pastes,  and  counts  at  the  rate  of  ninety-six 
thousand  four-page  papers  an  hour,  forty-eight  thousand  six 
or  eight-page,  and  twenty-four  thousand  ten  to  sixteen-page 
papers. 

The  problem  of  having  type  set  by  machinery  has  for 
many  years  been  present  in  the  minds  of  printers,  but  al- 
though machines  have  been  invented  from  time  to  time  since 
the  first  one  was  patented  in  England  by  William  Church,  in 
1812,  few  have  gained  any  established  success.  Among  the 
first  used  in  America  were  those  purchased  by  the  founder 
of  the  Chicago  Times,  Mr.  Wilbur  F.  Storey,  who  in  conse- 


112  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

quence  of  a  contest  with  union  printers  resolved  to  dispense 
with  the  services  of  printers  altogether  if  possible,  but  the 
machines  did  not  prove  a  success.  Early  in  the  year  1888,  a 
Louisville  journal  had  trouble  with  their  compositors,  and 
adopted  type-setting  machines,  which  have  succeeded,  and 
that  journal  in  a  recent  editorial  says,  "  These  type-setting 
machines  are  here  to  stay,  and  the  sooner  the  typographic 
fraternity  adapts  itself  to  the  revolution  they  are  making  in 
typographic  art  the  better  for  itself  and  everybody  else." 

Several  type-setting  machines  are  in  use  among  the  news- 
paper offices  of  New  York,  and  doubtless  in  those  of  other 
cities  also.  The  latest  invention  is  an  electrical  type-setting 
machine,  by  A.  S.  Capehart,  of  the  Minneapolis  Tribune, 
manufactured  by  the  Minneapolis  Electro-Matrix  Company. 
One  man  in  operating  this  machine  can  supplant  at  least  five 
men  setting  type. 

About  the  year  1830,  the  acquisition  and  dissemination  of 
news  having  now  become  the  chief  aim  of  the  newspaper 
publishers,  the  necessity  presented  itself  of  devising  more 
effective  means  of  procuring  it.  Expresses  were  established 
on  railroads  and  steamers,  and  in  remote  places  the  "  pony 
express"  was  called  into  requisition.  Carrier  pigeons  were 
also  used,  but  not  found  satisfactory.  Boats  were  sent  out 
to  intercept  incoming  ships,  and  on  one  occasion  a  fast  pilot 
boat  was  sent  across  the  Atlantic,  and  special  correspondents 
were  sent  to  points  of  interest.  The  expense  of  all  this  pro- 
vision for  newsgathering  was  so  enormous  and  competition 
became  so  eager  that  several  journals  combined  in  sharing 
expenses  and  benefits.  An  association,  known  as  the  "  Har- 
bor News  Association,"  for  special  news  and  chiefly  confined 
to  shipping,  was  formed.  This  happened  before  the  electric 


THE    NEWSPAPER.  113 

telegraph  was  an  established  success,  but  with  the  higher  de- 
velopment of  the  telegraph  the  association  expanded  till  in 
1862  it  was  reorganized  in  its  present  form,  or  nearly  so, 
and  is  now  known  as  "  The  Associated  Press."  The  Asso- 
ciation is  composed  of  the  several  papers,  not  of  individuals 
owning  or  controlling  them,  and  the  proprietorship  or  policy 
of  a  paper  may  change  without  affecting  its  relations  with  the 
Association.  It  collects  news,  taking  for  the  use  of  all  its 
own  members  a  common  dispatch,  reducing  the  cost  to  each 
by  dividing  expenses  of  reporting  and  telegraphing,  and  sells 
news  at  fixed  rates  to  hundreds  of  other  papers  all  over  the 
continent.  It  has  agents  all  over  the  world.  Its  London 
office  is  never  closed,  and  news  is  cabled  thence  to  New  York 
as  fast  as  it  is  received.  It  receives  Reuter's  collections  of 
news  from  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  South  America,  and  has 
its  own  agents  in  North  and  Central  America.  In  well- 
populated  regions  of  the  United  States  sub-associations  are 
formed,  which  give  the  local  papers  fuller  details  of  local 
affairs  than  are  required  by  distant  journals.  The  Pacific 
States,  far  removed  from  the  activity  of  the  Middle  and 
Eastern  States,  and  including  a  widely  extensive  country  not 
densely  populated,  and  whose  interests  are  for  the  most  part 
purely  local,  have  an  association  of  their  own,  supported  by 
their  own  papers,  which  is  quite  successful.  Notwithstanding 
this  fact,  the  chief  journals  of  California  are  liberal  patrons  also 
of  the  Associated  Press  of  the  United  States.  This  partly 
accounts  for  the  high  price  of  newspapers  in  the  Pacific  States. 
The  influence  of  the  aggregation  of  intellect  and  invention 
that  in  the  concrete  is  generalized  as  journalism  is  unbounded. 
Fact,  opinion,  and  comment,  disseminated  by  means  of  me- 
chanical inventions  that  so  late  as  a  century  ago  never  en- 
8 


114  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

tered  into  our  ancestors'  wildest  dreams,  combine  in  the  con- 
tinuous education  of  the  people  long  after  school  and  college 
have  done  their  work,  and  the  reflex  influence  of  the  reading 
public  on  the  men  who  daily  supply  them  with  information 
on  every  conceivable  subject  of  human  interest  has  aided  in 
raising  the  profession  of  a  journalist  to  a  position  of  political 
and  social  power  and  dignity  that  would  assuredly  astonish 
the  shade  of  Postmaster  Campbell,  of  Boston,  were  he  per- 
mitted to  revisit  the  earth.  One  journalist  has  been  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  several  have  been  ministers 
to  foreign  powers,  numbers  are  senators  and  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  one  has  been  a  cabinet 
minister.  In  the  Forty-first  Congress  there  were  eight 
editors  in  the  Senate,  and  twenty-six  in  the  House,  the 
Speaker  himself  being  one  of  them. 

One  striking  feature  of  modern  newspapers  is  the  fullness 
of  their  reports  of  current  events.  The  fullest  newspaper 
report  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo  occupied  only  half  a  column 
of  the  London  Times.  In  our  day  it  would  have  spread  to 
twenty  or  thirty  columns.  And  to  supplement  written  re- 
porting, the  newspaper  of  to-day  adopts  the  practice  of 
interviewing,  whereby  the  minutest  item  of  information  is 
extracted  by  skillful  questions  from  every  one  supposed  to 
know  anything  about  the  subject  to  be  reported,  not  always 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  person  interviewed,  perhaps,  for 
when  a  practiced  interviewer  reads  his  "  assignment  "  of  work 
and  sees  the  entry  opposite  his  own  name,  "  Interview  Super- 
intendent   ,  (must)''  the  "  must  "  means  that  the  superin- 
tendent, whoever  he  may  be,  is  to  be  interviewed  and  every 
scrap  of  information  dragged  out  of  him  whether  he  likes  it 
or  not. 


THE    NEWSPAPER.  115 

The  growth  of  journalism  as  a  profession  has  created  a 
body  of  men  of  whom  as  a  whole  the  country  has  reason  to 
be  proud.  The  half-illiterate,  often  intrusive  and  vulgar  re- 
porter of  half  a  century  ago  has  disappeared  to  make  room 
for  the  intelligent,  observant,  and  courteous  gentleman  who 
provides  our  daily  feast  of  news  in  the  most  interesting  and 
graphic  form.  He  has  been  aptly  called  "  the  Froissart  of 
his  day."  And  not  only  are  the  reporters  worthy  of  esteem 
for  their  literary  work.  The  exigencies  of  their  employment 
lead  them  into  scenes  of  rural  and  city  life  where  they  are 
exposed  to  disease  and  danger  which  they  meet  fearlessly  in 
the  cause  of  duty  ;  while  in  time  of  war,  as  well  in  other  coun- 
tries as  in  our  own,  the  newspaper  correspondents  have  shown 
a  bravery  of  which  military  heroes  might  well  be  proud. 

In  the  newspaper  offices  of  the  great  dailies  the  exactness 
and  precision  required  from  the  staff,  and  the  perfect  disci- 
pline maintained  demands  an  amount  of  industry,  self-denial, 
and  strict  attention  to  duty  to  which  only  a  man  of  sterling 
character  can  respond.  There  is  room  for  plenty  of  quiet 
heroism  in  a  journalist's  life,  even  though  he  may  never  be- 
come a  war  correspondent. 

The  editorial  matter  of  the  daily  papers  is  chiefly  political ; 
but  there  are  about  five  or  six  hundred  newspapers  (fifty 
in  New  York  alone)  that  are  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
religion,  treating  general  news  only  when  some  topic  of 
social  or  political  interest  impinges  on  their  special  field. 
Each  is  issued  in  the  interest  of  its  own  particular  denomina- 
tion, and  many  of  them  are  of  considerable  importance  and 
extensive  influence.  The  first  successful  religious  newspaper 
was  started  in  Boston  by  Sydney  Morse,  and  named  the 
Boston  Recorder. 


I  I  6  THE    NEWSPAPER. 

There  is  a  fair  proportion  of  illustrated  newspapers,  some 
showing  editorial  ability  and  artistic  workmanship.  Hun- 
dreds of  comic  journals  have  existed  for  a  brief  space,  but 
very  few  have  thoroughly  succeeded.  Those  that  have  done 
so,  however,  are  fairly  holding  their  ground.  Every  trade 
and  profession  has  its  special  organs  with  innumerable  satel- 
lites ;  and  in  every  department  of  the  vast  whole  one  of  the 
most  striking  and  influential  features  of  newspaper  work  is 
the  keen,  intelligent  criticism  that  is  so  valuable  in  directing 
the  judgment  and  forming  the  opinions  of  millions  of  busy 
readers  who  have  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  examine  for 
themselves  the  underlying  strata  of  thought,  fact,  or  state- 
craft that  is  brought  to  light  by  the  patient  and  manifold 
labors  of  American  journalism. 


MUSIC. 

IN  an  age  when  among  all  civilized  nations  music  asserts 
its  claims  on  public  attention  more  persistently  than  at 
any  period  of  the  world's  history,  thoughtful  minds  who 
from  temperament  or  circumstance  are  outside  the  pale 
of  the  musical  world  are  apt  to  inquire  on   what  basis 
these  claims  are  founded ;  what  is  the  rational  significance  of 
music  ? 

Such  a  mind,  unbiased  by  the  prevailing  sentiment,  un- 
hesitatingly asserts  that  music  has  no  distinct  moral  force ; 
that  the  possession  of  musical  gifts  or  knowledge  confers  no 
superior  mental  standing  or  moral  tone  on  the  musician  ; 
otherwise  musicians,  whether  their  gift  be  creative  or  ex- 
ponent, would  be  persons  of  exceptional  moral  purity  and 
refinement. 

It  is  incontestable  that  music,  of  whatever  order,  appeals 
chiefly  to  the  emotional  nature  ;  it  is  simply  the  emotional 
quality  of  sound  ;  the  study  of  sound  being  one  of  the  most 
abstruse  and  intricate  branches  of  modern  science. 

Music  is  not  of  human  invention,  but  simply  a  human  dis- 
covery ;  it  is  a  part  of  the  whole  Kosmos,  and  musical  sounds 
existed  in  the  natural  world  ages  before  man  discovered  that 
he  could  attune  his  voice  to  melody. 

The  earliest  cultivation  of  music  is  claimed  for  the  Egyp- 
tians, Phoenicians,  and  Assyrians,  the  Hebrews  no  doubt  gain- 

117 


iiS 


MUSIC. 


HANDEL. 


ing  their  first  musical  culture  from  the  Egyptians.  The 
ancient  Chinese  regarded  music  as  an  important  science, 
claiming  for  it,  as  did  all  the  nations  of  antiquity,  a  divine 
origin.  Their  musical  scale  of  five  notes — symbolizing  the 
five  elements,  earth,  air,  fire,  metal,  and  water — was  sup- 
posed to  have  been 
revealed  to  Ling 
Lung,  a  great  musi- 
cian, by  a  celestial 
vision.  Kung,  the 
grandest  tone,  was 
the  sound  produced 
by  the  rushing  wa- 
ters of  the  Hoang- 
Ho,  and  corre- 
sponded to  our 
modern  "  middle 
F,"  which  physic- 
ists tell  us  is  the 
sound  produced  by 
the  wind  rushing 
through  the  forests. 
It  is  pathetic  as  well 
as  grand,  and  is  the 
prevailing  tone  of 
all  natural  sounds. 

It  is  scarcely  too  fanciful  to  suppose  that  the  gentle 
melancholy  produced  in  many  minds  by  music  is  due 
to  the  preponderance  of  this  majestic  tone.  "  I  am  never 
merry  when  I  hear  sweet  music,"  as  uttered  by  Jessica, 
contains  much  food  for  reflection,  and  without  a  doubt  in 


MUSIC. 


119 


my  mind  definitely  expresses  a  true  interpretation  of  the- 
impression. 

Grandeur  and  sweetness  are  the  characteristics  of  the  musicr 
of  nature;  it  has  been  left  for  the  coarseness  of  human  inven- 
tion to  degrade  sweet  sounds  in  the  service  of  frivolity. 

Later  in  Chinese 
history,  music  held 
so  important  a  place 
that  Confucius  said 
"  Desire  ye  to  know 
if  a  land  is  well-o-ov- 

o 

erned  and  its  people 
moral,  listen  to  its 
music." 

Egyptians,  Assyr- 
ians, Hebrews,  Chi- 
nese, and  Hindoos, 
all  believing  in  its 
divine  origin,  it  fol- 
lowed that  in  an- 
cient days  the  prac- 
tice of  music,  like 
that  of  its  sister-art, 
the  Drama,  was  en- 
tirely confined  to 
the  priesthood  of 

all  religions;  and  the  earliest  schools  were  those  of  tlie? 
temples,  where  all  instruments  were  kept,  as  sacred  things. 
In  the  account  of  King  David's  school  of  vocal  and  instru- 
mental music,  and  his  elaborate  provision  for  the  musical 
part  of  Jewish  worship,  the  harps,  trumpets,  etc.,  are  spoken* 
of  as  "musical  instruments  of  God." 


GLUCK. 


I2O  MUSIC. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  VOCAL  MUSIC  TO  ISIS. 

The  ancient  Egyptians  taught  that  music  was  a  symbol  of 
the  whole  Kosmos,  harmony  being  the  ruling  principle  of 
Nature,  and  attributed  the  introduction  of  vocal  music  to  Isis, 
the  invention  of  the  flute  to  Osiris.  Egyptian  flutes  of  very 
early  date  have  been  found  in  tombs,  having  seven  notes,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Egyptian  temple  hymns  must  have 
been  the  models  for  those  of  the  Hebrews,  and  also  for  those 
of  the  early  Greek  worship. 

Early  in  her  history,  the  emotional  side  of  the  national  life 
of  Greece  was  greatly  influenced  by  the  music  learned  from 
the  Egyptians,  which  was  rapidly  assimilated  by  the  quick 
Greek  intellect,  and  elaborated  far  beyond  the  standard  of  its 
first  teachers.  Pythagoras  especially  enjoined  the  practice  of 
music  as  a  "  means  of  purifying  and  elevating  the  soul."  This 
early  cultivation  covered  the  mythic  period  up  to  about  1000 
B.  C. ;  the  next  stage,  or  classic  period,  from  1000  to  400 
B.  C. ;  and  thenceforward  there  was  a  decadence  of  music 
until  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  Romans 
gave  no  attention  whatever  to  music,  except  in  its  lowest 
form,  as  an  adjunct  to  popular  entertainments ;  and  it  was  in 
danger  of  becoming  a  lost  art,  when  the  early  Christians 
began  to  sing  the  hymns,  partly  founded  on  old  Jewish  melo- 
dies, partly  on  Greek  chants,  that  laid  the  foundation  of 
.modern  musical  science. 

As  the  primitive  Christian  worship  developed  into  more 
^elaborate  ritual  and  aesthetic  principles  gained  power,  the 
people  were  gradually  excluded  from  participation  in  the 
music  of  the  Church,  and  in  330  A.  D.  Pope  Sylvester  estab- 
lished a  school  of  vocal  music  in  Rome.  The  study  advanced 
hut  slowly,  till  Gregory  entered  on  his  great  work  of  revising 


MUSIC. 


121 


the  liturgy  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  developed  the  method 
of  chanting  known  by  his  name.  The  two  modes  then  in 
use — the  Ionian,  or  C  major,  and  Eolian,  or  A  minor — became 
the  principal  modes  of  modern  musical  development. 

A  number  of  compositions  were  written  at  this  period  by 
priests  and  monks, 
but  up  till  the  twelfth 
century  none  of  any 
real  value  were  pro- 
duced. 

Two  extraordi- 
narily antagonistic 
accounts  of  the 
Emperor  Charle- 
magne's interest  in 
music  are  given. 
The  one  states  that 
he  had  a  positive 
personal  objection 
to  instrumental 
music  in  any  shape 
whatever,and  wished 
to  lower  it  from  a 
state  of  decadence 
to  absolute  obscur- 
ity ;  and  that  from 

his  fierce  opposition  arose  a  determination  to  revive  it  among 
the  musicians  of  the  day,  which,  though  unenthusiastic  at  first, 
gainedground  till  music  became  a  matter  of  national  importance. 

The   opposite    statement    avers    that    Charlemagne  ( was 
deeply  interested   in    the    true    Gregorian    Liturgy  and    its 


BACH. 


122  MUSIC. 

introduction  in  the  Church ;  and  that  he  ordered  a  collection 
to  be  made  of  all  the  popular  secular  music  of  the  time  (768 
to  814).  He  possessed  an  organ  which  Constantine  had  sent 
from  Byzantium  to  his  father  Pepsin  ;  and  received  a  still  finer 
one  from  the  Caliph  Haroun  Alraschid. 

It  is  further  said  that  Charlemagne  on  an  Easter  visit  to 
Rome  took  his  court  singers  with  him,  when  they  disputed 
fiercely  with  the  Italians  as  to  their  respective  rendering  of 
the  Liturgical  music,  the  Italians  declaring  theirs  to  be  the 
one  true  method.  Charlemagne  gave  his  judgment  against 
his  own  singers,  and  employd  Italian  masters  to  restore  the 
purity  of  style  which  he  charged  them  with  having  corrupted. 

The  organ  now  played  a  great  part  in  the  development  of 
music.  Invented  by  Ctesibus,  the  Egyptian,  between  284 
and  246  B.  C.,  it  was  at  first  played  by  hydraulic  action.  The 
inventor  of  bellows  is  unknown  ;  but  organs  of  this  improved 
type  were  much  used  in  Greece  and  Rome,  and  were  made 
at  an  early  period  in  England.  St.  Aldhelm,  in  the  seventh 
century,  speaks  of  one  having  the  innovation  of  ornamental 
pipes. 

The  organs  of  our  day,  many  of  which  have  thousands  of 
pipes,  exhibit  the  largest  amount  of  acoustic  and  mechanical 
power  combined  to  be  found  in  any  machine  of  human  in- 
vention. 

Late  in  the  tenth  century,  Guido,  of  Arezzo,  added  two 
lines  to  the  staff  then  in  use,  and  named  the  notes  afresh 
from  the  first  syllable  of  each  line  of  a  popular  hymn  to  S. 
John,  the  Baptist.  This  innovation,  dispensing  with  the  com- 
plicated names  of  the  old  Greek  notation,  simplified  the 
-study  of  music,  and  crave  wider  range  for  the  expression  of 
Jarger  and  more  varied  idm-. 


MUSIC. 


123 


About  this  period,  the  time-table,  invented  by  French  church- 
men, was  introduced,  giving  an  increased  impetus  to  the  study  of 
music  among  all  civilized  nations.  The  principle  of  polyphonic 
harmony  becamebetter  understood,  and  musical  science  steadily 
advanced  till  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  notation 
was  fixed.  The  first 
compositions  of  any 
real  value  were 
written  by  a  Belgian 
singer  in  the  Sistine 
Chapel  at  Rome. 

Music  now  began 
to  create  interest 
outside  the  Church. 
The  Troubadours 
or  Minnesingers, 
who  wandered  about 
singing  secular  mu- 
sic with  accompani- 
ments of  the  man- 
doline or  guitar, 
formed  themselves 
into  guilds,  and  in 
1207  neld  a  con- 
test at  Wartburg, 
in  Saxony. 

Italian  musicians,  of  the  secular  school,  now  attempted  to 
revive  the  lyrico-dramatic  art  of  the  Greeks ;  and  the  earliest 
production,  in  crude  form,  of  what  is  now  called  opera,  was 
at  the  marriage  festivities  of  Marie  de  Medici  and  Henry  IV. 
About  the  same  time  the  first  Oratorio  "  L'anima  e  corpo" 
was  performed  in  a  church  in  Rome 


HAYDN. 


124  MUSIC. 

The  invention  and  development  of  opera  created  a  new 
musical  era,  Italy  taking  foremost  rank,  and  her  eminent 
mastery  elevating  their  calling  to  the  dignity  of  a  profession. 

The  growth  of  national  schools  of  composition  was  the 
inevitable  outcome  of  the  now  universal  spread  of  musical 
science.  During  the  sixteenth  century,  Palestrina  gave  to 
the  world  those  marvelous  compositions  that  are  still  models 
of  classical  Church  music.  The  Germans  evolved  their  grand 
chorales  from  the  older  hymns,  while  the  English  developed 
the  Anthem  from  the  same  source,  and  composed  psalm-tunes 
that  no  later  school  has  equaled. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  popular 
taste  for  musical  drama  was  increased  by  the  organization  of 
traveling  companies,  who  so  fascinated  the  public  that  it  was 
not  uncommon  for  part  of  an  audience,  perhaps  some  fifty  to 
a  hundred  people,  to  follow  a  company  to  their  next  stopping- 
place  in  order  to  hear  again  the  performance  to  which  they 
had  previously  listened  from  four  p.  M.  till  midnight  in  their 
own  town. 

To  the  later  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  belongs 
the  honor  of  being  the  birth-time  of  the  six  great  masters 
who  with  Palestrina  (of  the  sixteenth)  form  the  group  of 
composers  whose  work  will  live  so  long  as  music  exists  on 
earth. 

First  in  point  of  time  was  Handel,  born  at  Halle,  in  1685. 
At  ten  years  old  the  professor  who  instructed  him  in  music 
declared  he  could  teach  him  nothing  more. 

It  may  be  observed  here,  in  parenthesis,  that  although  each 
of  "  the  great  seven  "  developed  unusual  power  at  a  very 
early  age,  their  best  work  was  done  after  middle  age.  Han- 
del was  fifty-six  when  he  wrote  the  Messiah,  and  sixty-one 


MUSIC.  125 

when  he  composed  Judas  Maccabeus ;  Gliick  produced 
Iphigenia  at  sixty-five,  and  Haydn  the  Creation  at  sixty- 
nine.  What  the  divine  Mozart  might  have  achieved  had  he 
reached  middle  life  it  is  impossible  to  imagine. 

From  the  period  of  his  first  public  triumph  as  a  composer 
at  fifteen,  Handel's  personal  life  was  a  stormy  one.  He 
was  pursued  byjealousy  and  intrigue  in  his  native  land,  and 
while  attaining  much  honor  in  England,  the  country  of  his 
adoption,  was  yet  incessantly  troubled  by  the  cabals  of  ene- 
mies. But  through  all  vicissitudes  he  kept  his  mind  fixed  on 
his  great  work,  and  produced  in  rapid  succession  forty-three 
Italian  operas,  ten  German  operas,  a  quantity  of  miscella- 
neous vocal  and  instrumental  music,  and  twenty  English 
oratorios. 

It  is  related  of  him  that  while  composing  the  "  Messiah," 
he  said  that  he  never  ventured  to  commence  writing  a  single 
number  without  preparatory  devotion,  so  impressed  was  he 
with  the  sacred  magnitude  of  his  theme. 

About  the  year  1700,  Italian  opera  gained  a  steady  hold 
on  popular  favor,  and  henceforward  we  find  the  great  mas- 
ters giving  their  attention  to  works  of  that  school.  The 
noblest  musical  dramas  ever  written  which  have  served  (and 
continue  to  serve)  as  models  for  all  others,  were  those  of 
Gliick,  who  wrote  eight  Italian  and  thirteen  French  operas. 

Bach,  the  third  of  the  great  masters,  is  less  known  by 
gigantic  work  in  oratorio  and  opera,  but  in  instrumentation 
is  almost  without  a  rival,  and,  with  Handel,  evolved  his 
majestic  style  from  the  examples  given  by  their  predecessor 
Palestrina.  Haydn,  the  fifth  star  in  the  constellation,  was 
the  creator  of  the  model  of  chamber  music.  Master  of 
many  styles,  as  witnessed  by  his  fourteen  Italian  and  ten  Ger- 


126 


MUSIC. 


man  operas,  his  nineteen  masses,  and  numerous  songs,  he  is 
yet  most  emphatically  known  as  the  exponent  of  the  aesthetic 
importance  of  the  sonata,  which  he  evolved  from  the  old 
dance-tune.  His  music  is  of  a  strongly  imitative  character, 
and  the  innocent  gayety  of  his  lighter  movements  was  prob- 
ably the  reflection  of 
his  blameless  life. 
He  had  great  influ- 
ence over  his  youth- 
ful contemporary 
Mozart,  whose  work? 
however,  was  in  no- 
wise imitative. 

Mozart  was  born 
in  Salzburg  in  1756, 
and  at  five  years  old 
appeared  in  public 
as  a  pianist,  and  in 
a  year  after  began 
composing.  At  ten 
years  old  he  had  ad- 
vanced sufficiently 
to  pay  no  heed  to 
any  criticism  but 
that  of  the  greatest 

%  masters     of     the 

time,  and  his  versatile  powers  developed  rapidly.  A 
violin  having  been  presented  to  him,  in  Vienna,  as  a 
tribute  to  his  wonderful  powers,  he  taught  himself  to 
play  it  on  the  homeward  journey  from  Vienna  to  Salz- 
burg, and  on  his  arrival  astonished  his  father  and  sister 


MOZART. 


MUSIC.  127 

by  executing  with  perfect  precision  the  second  part  in  a 
trio. 

To  Mozart  may  be  applied,  more  than  to  any  one  of  "  the 
seven,"  the  epithet,  "  many-sided."  In  his  influence  on  the 
emotional  side  of  human  nature  he  has  no  peer.  That  he 
excels  in  the  expression  of  romantic  sentiment  is  no  wonder, 
for  his  short,  sad  life,  with  intermediate  spasms  of  gayety, 
was  itself  a  romance.  He  wrote  from  the  heart,  and  there- 
fore touches  the  heart.  But  his  music  has  a  more  earnest 
side  than  the  romantic ;  beside  his  brilliant  operatic  work 
stands  his  invention  of  the  orchestral  fuooie  (an  intellectual 

o  \ 

labor  of  no  mean  kind),  and  the  weird  grandeur  of  his  re- 
ligious works.  The  modern  world  knows  Mozart  chiefly  as 
the  composer  of  "II  Don  Giovanni,"  king  of  operas,  and  the 
imperishable  "Requiem;"  but  a  lifetime  might  be  spent  in 
study  of  his  less  known  works,  replete  ao  they  are  with  cap- 
tivating melody,  exquisite  harmony,  and  unapproachable 
purity  of  feeling.  Of  his  fourteen  Italian  operas,  "  Don 
Giovanni "  will  be  immortal  for  its  marvelous  combination 
of  grace,  gayety,  and  dignity  and  symmetrical  structure,  while 
^Belmont"  and  "  Der  Zauberflote  "  are  models  of  modern 
German  opera. 

Beethoven,  whose  life  extended  into  the  present  century 
(he  died  at  Bonn,  1827),  entered  upon  the  time  that  saw  the 
separation  of  the  German  and  Italian  schools  of  music,  but 
in  his  own  compositions  intensified  both  schools.  He,  with 
Clementi,  the  founder  of  piano-forte  playing  as  a  distinct 
branch  of  music,  promoted  greatly  the  perfecting  of  that  in- 
strument. He  wrote  but  one  opera,  one  oratorio,  and  two 
masses,  but  the  list  of  his  piano-forte  works,  sixteen  with 
orchestral  accompaniments,  is  almost  endless.  For  grandeur 


1 28  MUSIC. 

and  strength,  Beethoven's  works  are  unequaled.  They  also 
have  the  remarkable  property  of  admitting  diverse  interpre- 
tations, all  equally  sublime,  and  thus  will  appeal  to  the  heart 
of  the  world  in  all  ages. 

The  earliest  mention  of  the  piano-forte,  evolved  by  gradual 
stages  from  the  poor  little  dulcimer,  is  in  1598.  Its  mechan- 
ism was  continually  improved  by  English  makers,  and  its 
adoption  helped  to  popularize  secular  music.  Clementi  and 
Haydn  did  much  to  insure  the  popularity  of  the  instrument, 
but  it  was  left  to  Beethoven  to  compose  the  ideal  music  for 
it,  music  which  as  yet  is  but  imperfectly  understood. 

The  history  of  music  in  America  is  necessarily  brief.  From 
1 620  to  1771  there  was  scarcely  anything  in  the  shape  of  music 
existing.  Puritanic  hatred  of  the  fine  arts  confined  vocal  music 
to  the  execution  of  psalm-tunes,  and  instruments  of  all  kinds 
were  looked  on  with  disfavor.  The  first  American  composer 
was  William  Billings,  of  Boston,  whose  talent  was  devoted  to 
producing  psalm-tunes,  and  who  first  introduced  "  viols " 
into  the  Church.  He  had  many  followers,  men  who  com- 
posed "tunes"  to  any  extent,  in  any  style  that  occurred  to 
them,  with  a  calm  defiance  of  all  rules  of  the  art.  The  clergy 
opposed  the  new  style  of  "  fuguing  tunes,"  but  they  were 
popular  and  were  the  staple  element  of  music,  at  least  in 
rural  districts,  for  many  years. 

The  first  impulse  in  the  direction  of  musical  culture  was 
given  by  the  formation  of  the  Handel  and  Haydn  Society,  of 
Boston,  who  gave  oratorios  even  before  1800.  New  York 
established  a  musical  society  about  the  middle  of  the  last 
century.  In  1750  the  first  opera  was  performed  in  New 
York,  and  in  1791  French  opera  was  introduced  at  New 
Orleans.  With  the  progress  of  musical  culture  in  America 


MUSIC.  1 29 

many  now  world-famous  names  are  associated.  Theodore 
Thomas,  who  came  to  this  country  at  ten  years  of  age, 
established  his  great  orchestra  in  New  York,  in  1861,  and 
traveling  to  Cincinnati  in  1869,  was  very  successful,  and  was 
head  of  the  Musical  College  for  many  years.  In  1880  he 
returned  to  New  York  to  conduct  the  National  Opera. 

In  1825  an  attempt  was  made  to  establish  Italian  opera  in 
New  York,  with  limited  success.  Subsequently  Manuel 
Garcia,  with  a  brilliant  troupe,  endeavored  to  achieve  popu- 
larity, but  without  permanent  results.  As  yet,  Italian  opera 
has  found  no  abiding  home  in  America. 

The  most  popular  opera  singer  of  native  birth  was  Ann 
Louise  Carey,  introduced  by  Mapleson.  The  most  costly 
opera  was  produced  by  Strakosch,  the  cast  made  up  of 
foreign  stars.  The  best  operatic  company  now  existing  is 
the  Boston  Ideals. 

The  first  American  prima-donna  who  has  achieved  a  high 
popularity  in  Europe  is  Clara  Louise  Kellogg. 

Although  orchestral  music  has  a  high  place  in  the  affection 
of  the  musical  world,  piano-forte  playing  is  the  favorite 
musical  diversion  of  the  people.  Its  adaptability  to  the  or- 
dinary tastes  of  the  majority  and  the  essentially  domestic 
enjoyment  it  provides,  account  easily  for  the  fact  that  in  the 
United  States  there  are  more  pianos  and  pianists  in  propor- 
tion to  the  population  than  in  any  country  on  earth. 


POETRY. 

Of    MONG  the  arts,  Poetry  stands  in   the    forefront,  as 

I  Jr       being  in  all  its  developments  the  complete  and  per- 

f\       feet    medium    of  conveying  thought  from  mind    to 

A     \         mind.     That    this  truth    has   been  recognized  in 

^"^    all  ages  by  civilized  man  is  evident  from  the  fact 

that  every  nation  in  turn  has  conferred  on  its  greatest  poet 

the  epithet  "  divine." 

The  subjects,  style,  and  aim  of  poetry  both  in  ancient  and 
modern  days  have  varied  with  time,  circumstance,  and  the 
movement  of  national  thought  and  life  ;  but  its  pre-eminence 
among  the  dominant  forces  of  mental  life,  as  the  exponent 
of  the  highest  ideas  conceivable  by  the  human  intellect, 
remains  unchanged. 

Modern  poetry  differs  from  that  of  the  ancient  world 
mainly  in  the  definiteness  of  its  aim,  this  definiteness  having 
been  engendered  in  course  of  time  by  the  growth  of  critical 
inquiry  incident  to  the  higher  culture  of  the  day.  Ancient 
poetry  was  by  no  means  devoid  of  aim  ;  but  the  writers  of 
the  older  time,  less  influenced  by  strict  canons  of  poetic  law, 
with  a  narrower  range  of  world  vision,  and  less  expectation 
of  searching  criticism,  exhibited  less  harmony  and  cohesion 
of  poetic  structure,  while  necessarily  employing  the  peculiar 
130 


POETRY.  I  3  I 

combinations  of  action,  rhythm,  and  rhyme  indispensable  to 
the  production  of  a  poem. 

Notwithstanding  the  lofty  standing  of  Poetry  as  an  art, 
perfect  intellectual  appreciation  of  a  poem  is  not  a  necessary 
factor  in  its  influence  on  the  mind.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  a  reader  may  not  thoroughly  enter  into  the  full  depth  of 
meaning  or  mentally  grasp  the  complex  composition  and 
artistic  quality  of  a  great  poem,  and  yet  be  profoundly  influ- 
enced by  the  general  sentiment  pervading  it. 

Is  the  intention  of  Poetry,  as  generally  understood,  to 
instruct,  amuse,  or  has  it  a  still  higher  object  ? 

Aristotle  was  the  first  to  write  philosophically  on  the  art, 
and  he  considered  its  culture  the  chief  means  of  elevating 
thought,  viewing  it  as  an  energy  and  recognizing  its  value  in 
relation  to  other  expressions  of  spiritual  force. 

Poetry  demands  the  highest  place  in  art  because  it  is  less 
vague  than  music,  more  fitted  to  interpret  the  ideal  than 
painting,  more  enduring  than  sculpture.  It  does  not  depend 
for  existence  on  mechanical  power  as  do  these  others.  The 
sculptor  is  helpless  to  evolve  his  thoughts  from  the  marble 
without  his  chisel ;  the  painter  can  reproduce  no  vision  on 
canvas  without  his  brush  and  colors  ;  the  musician  can  express 
no  harmony  without  the  aid  of  instruments  ;  but  were  every  im- 
plement of  writing  and  accessory  of  the  stage  swept  out  of 
existence,  the  poet  could  speak,  and  his  utterances  live  from 
age  to  age  in  the  hearts  of  the  people ;  for  the  emotion  pro- 
duced by  words  is  held  by  the  memory  more  persistently 
than  that  produced  by  sound.  As  one  of  the  primal  human 
forces  Poetry  has  had  as  much  effect  in  determining  the 
destiny  of  man  as  science.  Emotional  in  its  nature,  it  is  con- 
crete in  form,  expressing  the  effort  of  the  mind  in  rhythm. 


132  POETRY. 

In  all  nations  Poetry  invariably  precedes  prose  in  their 
literature ;  the  imagination  of  a  nation,  as  of  a  child,  being 
earlier  in  development  than  reason. 

The  earliest  Poetry  of  which  we  have  authentic  record  is 
that  of  the  Hebrews,  the  first  poem  handed  down  being  the 
Song  of  Triumph  written  by  Moses  after  the  passage  of  the 
Red  Sea,  and  taking  rank  as  poetry  rather  from  the  rhythmic 
movement  of  ideas  than  their  expression  in  syllabic  measure. 
This  majestic  movement  of  rhythm  without  rhyme  is  also 
found  in  the  Psalms,  the  finest  known  collection  of  lyric 
poetry,  exhibiting  by  turns  vivid  descriptive  force,  heroic  sen- 
timent, delicate  imagery,  and  intense  pathos.  Passages  of 
grand  vehemence  and  passion  occur  in  the  poems  scattered 
through  the  book  of  Jeremiah,  written  at  the  same  period. 
The  power  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  poetry,  and  its  influence 
over  men  for  three  thousand  years  springs  from  its  own  in- 
ternal force  and  its  intense  sympathy  with  the  actual 
condition  of  the  human  race  in  all  ages. 

The  earliest  epic  and  dramatic  poem  in  the  world  is  the 
Book  of  Job. 

Next  in  age  to  the  Hebrew  stand  the  wonderful  poems  of 
the  Hindu  people.  Their  Vedas,  dating  about  1500  B.  C, 
consist  of  hymns,  prayers,  rules  for  religious  rites,  and  moral 
teachings,  all  written  in  song  form.  The  Vedas  are  varied  in 
style  and  matter  ;  are  epigrammatic,  didactic,  epic,  descriptive 
and  dramatic,  but  are  wanting  in  the  grace  of  the  Hebrew 
lyric. 

With  the  k  development  of  the  Sanskrit  language,  Hindu 
poetry  became  rhythmical  and  metrical,  following  the  eight- 
syllable  method  which  is  the  source  of  all  metre.  Of  this 
class  of  poetry  is  the  Ramayana  by  Valmiki  (period  unde- 


POETRY.  133 

termined),  in  seven  cantas,  containing  twenty-five  thousand 
verses.  Exceeding  fine  lyrics  are  found  in  the  Mahabharata, 
the  product  of  a  period,  consisting  of  two  hundred  thousand 
verses.  The  didactic  poetry  of  the  Hindus  covered  a  wide 
range  of  subjects,  and  dealt  with  every  phase  of  human  exist- 
ence, including  such  writings  as  law-books,  school-books, 
deeds,  dictionaries,  and  inscriptions.  Their  dramatic  poetry 
first  flourished  about  300  to  400  B.  C.,  and  was  of  a 
moral  and  religious  character.  Serious  and  comic  pan- 
tomime and  music  were  employed  in  its  representation, 
and  all  performances  concluded  with  prayer. 

The  ancient  Persians,  in  keeping  with  their  warlike  charac- 
ter, only  boasted  one  great  poet,  Ferdusi,  who  wrote  a  grand 
epic  about  1000  B.  C. 

The  ancient  Chinese  idea  of  poetry  was  the  production  of 
short  moral  sentences  in  consecutive'  order,  as  seen  in 
the  writings  of  Confucius  and  his  predecessors.  They  had 
neither  epics  nor  pastorals,  and  rhyme  and  quantity  were 
given  simply  by  tone. 

With  the  growth  of  Greece  and  Rome  as  intellectual  cen- 
tres there  sprang  up  new  forms  of  thought,  finding  ex- 
pression among  the  Greeks  in  exquisite  lyric  forms,  while 
Rome  rejoiced  in  her  three  great  tragic  poets,  and  many  who 
wrote  in  lighter  strains. 

With  the  decline  of  these  magnificent  civilizations  there 
was  a  long  eclipse  of  true  poetry,  until  its  spirit  emerged 
slowly  into  the  light  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  fusion 
of  nations  during  the  Dark  Ages  contributed  to  the  creation 
of  a  new  school  by  the  Italians.  Poetry  became  the  fashion 
at  the  courts  of  Frederick  II  and  Charles  of  Anjou,  the  lat- 
ter monarch  and  his  sons  distinguishing  themselves  as  writers 


134  POETRY. 

of  verse  ;  and  Italy  held  first  place  as  the  home  of  the  poetic 
muse  until  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Meanwhile,  the  French  had  cultivated  lyric  poetry,  made 
popular  by  their  troubadours,  and  always  of  the  highly  roman- 
tic school ;  and  England  had  produced  the  greatest  of  her 
mediaeval  poets,  Chaucer.  Germany  had  few  poets  at  this 
period,  and  their  writings  were  rhymeless,  but  alliterative  in 
form.  The  Scandinavians  clung  to  their  ancient  poetic 
hymns  in  praise  of  the  gods  and  the  splendid  epics  known 
as  the  Sagas, 

The  earliest  instance  of  rhyme  in  Oriental  poetry  is  found 
in  a  pastorial  poem  by  Lebid,  written  before  the  time  of 
Mahomet,  with  whom  Arabian  history  begins,  in  622  A.  D. 
For  ninety  years  the  Arabs  had  no  poetry  except  that  found 
in  the  Koran,  in  which  morality,  theology,  jurisprudence,  and 
domestic  life  are  all  treated  of  in  poetic  strain.  The  tendency 
of  the  Mohammedan  faith  to  isolate  its  believers,  in  thought, 
from  the  rest  of  the  world,  prevented  their  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  Greek  drama ;  and  their  poetry  never 
rose  above  the  level  of  commonplace  ;  the  large  number  of 
words  with  similar  terminations  in  the  Arabic  language  con- 
tributed also  to  this  low  average  of  composition,  rendering  it 
easy  to  hide  feebleness  of  thought  under  the  melodious  jingle 
of  easy  rhymes.  Consequently,  the  Arabian  poets  never  pro- 
duced an  epic,  a  comedy,  or  a  tragedy.  Their  poetry  was  all 
lyrical,  and  outside  the  Koran,  was  chiefly  the  language  of  the 
passions. 

Though  the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  been 
illumined  by  Chaucer,  Dante,  Petrarch,  Ariosto,  Tasso,  and  a 
few  lesser  stars,  the  stormy  moral  atmosphere  of  Europe  was 
unfavorable  to  the  development  of  poetic  sentiment  among 


POETRY.  135 

the  masses  of  the  people  until  in  the  sixteenth  century  Ger- 
many aroused  herself  to  study  the  ancient  classics,  and  a 
lyrical  school  arose  who  provided  the  awakened  Church  with 
hymns  and  chorales. 

In  England,  about  the  same  period,  poetic  feeling  began 
slowly  to  permeate  the  intellectual  life  of  the  nation  ;  a 
higher  and  more  truly  poetic  sentiment  was  exhibited  by  the 
dramatists,  reaching  its  culminating  point  in  the  works  of 
Shakespeare,  the  widespread  influence  of  whose  writings  is 
a  proof  that  perfect  intellectual  appreciation  of  poetry  is  not 
essential  for  the  proper  enjoyment  thereof. 

In  his  most  popular  plays — as  "Othello,"  "Hamlet,"  or  "The 
Merchant  of  Venice," — we  are  influenced  by  the  presentment 
of  the  mental  characteristics  of  their  heroes,  and  their  moral 
action  in  varied  and  crucial  circumstances ;  this  influence 
always  tending  toward  good,  the  moral  teaching  being  of  the 
highest  character. 

o 

For  instance,  in  "Othello"  we  see  a  noble  warrior,  dethroned 
from  the  high  pedestal  on  which  his  achievements  had  placed 
him,  by  the  maliciousness  of  jealousy.  His  dethronement  is 
complete,  and  while  admitting  it  to  be  warranted,  we  feel  a 
pang  of  regret  for  his  misfortunes  and  a  deep  scorn  for  the 
traitor  who  caused  them  ;  sentiments  that  exert  an  influence 
for  good,  no  matter  whether  we  have  or  have  not  followed 
and  fathomed  the  intellectual  intricacies  of  the  play  as  a  work 
of  art. 

An  opposite  influence  is  exercised  by  the  representation  of 
a  bad  character.  We  neither  pity  nor  feel  regret  for  him 
when  he  meets  his  final  deserts,  and  are  correspondingly 
roused  to  a  sense  of  injustice  when  villainy  prospers,  the 
honest  mind  revolting  against  that  which  seems  unfair.  It  is 


136  POETRY. 

therefore  obvious  that  the  heart  which  creates  such  impulses, 
whether  it  seeks  to  reach  us  through  the  simple  channel  of 
reading  or  the  attractive  environments  of  the  stage,  must 
wield  a  tremendous  influence  for  good ;  and  not  on  the  cul- 
tured element  in  a  nation  only. 

A  striking  instance  of  the  deep  influence  of  the  higher 
poetry  of  the  drama  on  persons  of  low  intellectual  attainment 
was  seen  in  the  success  of  Mr.  Phelps  in  raising  the  moral 
tone  of  a  section  of  the  population  of  London  by  the  presen- 
tation of  the  higher  drama. 

Impressed  with  keen  regret  by  observing  the  immense 
audiences  that  thronged  the  Sadlers'  Wells  Theatre  (in  a  dis- 
trict inhabited  exclusively  by  an  uncultivated  vulgar  class  of 
people)  to  enjoy  coarse  and  commonplace  plays,  he  resolved 
to  educate  them.  He  took  the  theatre  himself,  and  produced 
the  finest  plays  of  Shakespeare  and  the  later  dramatists  ;  he 
soon  drew  larger  crowds  than  ever  of  the  very  same  class  of 
the  community,  established  order  and  good  manners,  and  in 
a  very  short  time  Sadlers'  Wells  became  as  noted  for  the 
quiet,  critical  enjoyment  of  its  audiences  as  it  had  once  been  for 
their  boisterous  vulgarity.  Yet  it  cannot  be  questioned  that 
not  a  tithe  of  these  people  could  have  had  thorough  intellec- 
tual appreciation  of  the  poetic  dramas  they  learned  to  enjoy. 

Since  Shakespeare's  day  the  influence  of  modern  poetry 
has  steadily  advanced  in  Europe,  and  illustrious  names  on  the 
roll  of  poetic  fame  are  neither  few  nor  far  to  seek.  Force 
and  enthusiasm  in  Germany,  vivacity  and  delicate  shading  of 
sentiment  in  France,  and  sensibility  and  pure  thought  in 
England  have  all  had  their  exponents.  It  remains  yet  to  be 
•seen  what  will  be  the  informing  and  indwelling  spirit  of 
ithe  poetry  of  America. 


POETRY.  137 

The  youngest  of  western  nations,  her  national  school  is 
still  in  process  of  creation  ;  but  in  her  poetic  efforts  she  has 
evidently  taken  heed  to  the  Apostolic  injunction,  "  Let  no  man 
despise  thy  youth/'  for  her  leading  poets  have  already 
attained- world-wide  fame. 

In  our  poetic  literature  the.  Northeastern  States  have 
taken  the  lead  from  the  very  earliest  settlement  of  the 
Colonies.  From  the  commencement  of  their  history,  the  stu- 
dents of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  cultivated  poetic  taste,  and  were 
the  first  to  earn  for  their  State  the  title  of  "  the  home  of 
American  Poets." 

Virginia,  "  the  mother  of  Presidents,"  might  have  been 
"  the  mother  of  poets  "  also,  but  for  her  adherence  to  the 
feudal  policy  of  dispersion,  which  placed  a  ban  on  learning 
within  her  borders. 

The  reverse  policy  being  pursued  in  Massachusetts,  the 
reverse  influence  of  course  was  felt ;  the  pre-eminence  of 
Boston  (which  eventually  became  the  State  capital)  in  the  de- 
velopment of  culture  and  poetic  thought — whereby  she  has 
gained  the  sobriquet  of  "  Hub  of  the  Universe  " — being  un- 
doubtedly due  to  the  influence  of  the  men  of  pre-national 
times. 

The  very  idea  of  the  South  is  of  itself  suggestive  of 
poetry,  but  the  Southern  States  have  not  as  yet  established  a 
claim  to  be  the  birthplace  of  poets,  very  few  having  made 
any  great  mark  except  Edgar  A.  Poe,  to  whom  literature  is 
indebted  for  fully  one-third  of  the  poems  written  by 
Southerners. 

It  is  difficult  to  judge  of  the  actual  potency  of  the  influence 
of  contemporaneous  poetry  from  the  fact  that  fashion  exerts 
a  baneful  influence  on  all  arts  in  every  age.  While  the  ear  is 


138  POETRY. 

receiving  impressions  from  the  combined  sounds  of  a  great 
orchestra,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  decide  on  one  particular 
instrument  whose  tones  will  linger  longest  in  the  memory ; 
and  so  it  devolves  on  the  next  age  to  pronounce  on  the 
enduring  qualities  of  the  poet's  work.  The  number  of 
American  poets  is  small,  probably  because  ours  is  a  specially 
critical  age,  and  critical  periods  are  in  the  main  uncreative. 

The  stirring  time  of  the  Revolution  brought  forth  a  ballad 
literature  that  was  as  voluminous  as  it  was  patriotic,  and  some 
of  the  songs  were  of  great  merit,  becoming  as  well-known  in 
England  as  in  their  native  land.  When  quiet  settled  down  on 
the  newly-created  Republic,  men  had  more  leisure  for 
the  higher  literature,  and  thenceforward  poetic  culture  has 
rapidly  advanced. 

Among  the  first  to  inaugurate  a  Home  school  of  poetry  in 
this  country  were  Washington  Irving,  Mrs.  Sedgwick,  and 
Longfellow.  Horace  Greeley  said  that  Whittier  was  the 
first  genuinely  American  poet,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that 
he  was  pre-eminently  the  poet  of  his  own  historic  genera- 
tion. He  gave  expression  to  the  dominant  ideas  of  New 
England  life,  and  was  the  poet  of  a  section  whose  movements 
ultimately  became  the  governing  impulse  of  the  nation.  He 
has  in  especial  the  typical  American  gift  of  wide  sympathy  and 
fluency  of  speech. 

The  period  of  the  Civil  War,  with  its  fierce  moral  and 
emotional  conflicts,  stirred  the  patriotism  of  poets  on  each 
side,  and  the  series  of  war-ballads  that  became  popular  show 
an  immense  advance  on  those  of  the  Revolution,  both 
in  patriotic  sentiment  and  true  lyrical  poetry,  and  some 
of  them  show  a  dramatic  force  which  is  utterly  wanting  in 
their  proto-types. 


POETRY.  1 39 

The  poetry  of  a  nation  must  needs  rise  with  the  rising  tide 
of  its  power,  its  influence,  its  intelligence  and  refinement ;  and 
signs  are  not  wanting  that  devotion  to  foreign  or  sectional 
types  is  waning  ;  that  fresh  poetic  energy,  beauty,  and  crea- 
tive force  is  growing  with  the  nation's  growth,  and  that  there 
is  a  distinct  movement  toward  a  school  of  poetry  in  America 
that  will  not  only  be  national,  but  worthy  of  its  birthplace. 

The  representative  poets  of  the  nineteenth  century  in 
America  are  Bryant,  Longfellow,  Poe,  Whittier,  Lowell,  and 
Whitman;  while  of  minor  lyrical  writers  there  are  quite 
a  number  who  are  exerting  an  appreciable  influence  on  the 
literature  of  the  day. 

William  Cullen  Bryant  was  born  at  Cummington,  Mass., 
in  1 794 ;  and  his  early  years  were  spent  among  favor- 
able surroundings  for  the  development  of  the  poetic  gift 
which  distinguished  him  while  yet  a  child.  The  scenery 
around  his  home  was  of  exquisite  and  diversified  beauty,  and 
he  had  the  advantage  of  home-training,  calculated  to  draw 
out  what  was  in  him  of  pure  and  elevated  sentiment.  His 
father  was  a  surgeon  of  studious  habits,  who  himself  ex- 
celled in  writing  humorous  and  satirical  verses,  and  was  a 
severe  and  faithful  critic  of  his  son's  work. 

At  ten  years  old,  Cullen  (as  he  was  called  in  the  family) 
wrote  an  address  for  a  school  examination,  in  heroic  verse, 
which  was  afterward  published  in  the  New  Hampshire 
Gazette,  and  became  a  stock  recitation  piece  in  New  England 
schools.  In  his  twelfth  year  he  wrote  a  poem  on  the  eclipse 
of  the  sun,  wonderful  for  a  child-poet ;  but  his  father,  with  his 
usual  kindly  severity,  told  him  he  would  "  be  ashamed  of  it 
some  day."  The  boy  wondered  why,  and  set  himself  to  find 
out.  Trained  in  the  rigid  faith  of  Calvinism,  Cullen  believed 


I4O  POETRY. 

firmly  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  and  records  in  his  fragment 
of  autobiography  that  at  this  time  he  was  accustomed  to  pray 
"  earnestly  for  the  gift  of  verse." 

His  literary  path  even  then  was  not  over  smooth,  for  his 
grandfather,  of  whom  he  stood  in  great  awe,  was  accustomed, 
whenever  he  noticed  the  delicate  lad  resting  occasionally  as 
he  worked,  on  the  farm,  to  taunt  him  with  the  inquiry : 
"  Stopping  to  make  verses,  Cullen  ?" 

In  1809,  he  began  studying  Greek  and  soon  exhibited  pas- 
sionate love  for  it,  learning  so  fast  that  the  next  year  he  en- 
tered Williams  College  as  a  Sophomore. 

Seven  months  after,  he  left  college  and  commenced  study- 
ing law,  and  the  poetic  fire  slumbered  awhile.  Licensed  to 
practice  in  1815,  he  returned  to  Cummington,  and  spent  much 
time  in  communing  with  nature,  the  fire  being  thus  fanned 
again  into  flame. 

After  a  few  years  he  abandoned  the  law,  and  settled 
steadily  into  literary  life ;  his  poem  "  Thanatopsis "  having 
been  published  in  the  North  American  Review,  and  attracted 
much  attention. 

From  1823  to  1825  he  wrote  the  "  Thirty  Poems,"  which 
brought  him  still  more  fame,  and  a  year  or  two  after  went  to 
New  York  to  engage  in  newspaper  work. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  about  this  time  Bryant  wrote 
a  favorable  criticism  on  three  poems  of  Longfellow  (which 
appeared  under  the  new  poet's  initials  only,  in  the  U.  S. 
Literary  Gazette],  not  knowing  the  author. 

His  editorial  work  created  a  poetic  blank,  which  existed  till 
in  1831  he  published  a  volume  of  all  his  poems  written 
within  ten  years.  These  were  received  with  great  favor  in 
England  as  well  as  America. 


POETRY.  141 

In  1842,  he  published  fresh  poems,  and  undertook  fresh 
editorial  work.  Mr.  Bryant  had  a  passion  for  traveling,  and 
in  this  year  made  an  extended  tour  in  Europe,  followed  by 
others  of  wider  range  in  other  years.  He  highly  appreciated 
the  poetry  of  Longfellow,  and  was  on  terms  of  friendly  cor- 
respondence with  him  throughout  his  life. 

Though  taking  an  active  part  in  political  life,  thoroughly 
enjoying  home  life  on  his  farm  in  Long  Island,  and  frequently 
making  long  journeys,  the  poetic  element  was  never  kept  in 
abeyance  in  his  active  mind.  Indeed,  politics  and  poetry 
seem  to  have  had  alternate  place,  or  kept  side  by  side.  In 
1864  another  volume  of  "Thirty  Poems"  appeared,  contain- 
ing some  of  the  longest  he  had  ever  written,  and  was  well  re- 
ceived ;  and  following  on  this  poetic  work  came  his  greatest 
political  speech,  delivered  in  April,  1865,  at  the  Union  League 
Club,  on  the  announcement  of  peace. 

In  July,  1865,  Mr.  Bryant  experienced  a  terrible  grief  in 
the  loss  of  his  wife,  but  his  sorrow  had  no  power  to  crush  his 
indomitable  spirit  of  activity.  He  made  another  long  journey 
to  Europe  soon  after,  and  on  his  return  began  a  translation 
of  Homer,  and  wrote  several  fine  hymns.  His  translation  of 
the  "  Iliad  "  met  with  great  success  and  he  then  set  to  work 
on  the  "Odyssey,"  completing  it  in  1871. 

The  chief  event  of  his  serene  old  age  was  a  public  recep- 
tion tendered  him  by  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  at  Al- 
bany. It  was  noticeable  that  as  he  advanced  in  years  what- 
ever irritability  or  asperity  had  been  noticed  in  him  dropped 
away,  and  his  character  in  his  later  days  was  marked  by 
gentleness  and  unselfishness. 

In  1878,  in  consequence  of  a  fall,  the  active,  useful  life  of 
the  first  of  America's  true  poets  ended  ;  and  the  country 


142  POETRY. 

mourned  the  loss,  not  of  one  of  her  favorite  poets  only,  but 
of  a  patriot  of  lofty  aims,  a  noble  and  faithful  citizen. 

Edgar  Allan  Poe  claims  distinction  emphatically  as  the  poet 
of  wild  imagination  and  original  conceptions.  He  himself 
exalted  imagination  as  the  chief  qualification  needed  by  a 
poet,  and  contended  that  beauty  was  the  sole  object  of 
verse. 

The  wild,  irregular  music  of  his  poems  has  a  strong,  orig- 
inal charm,  the  harmony  of  idea  and  expression  being  com- 
plete even  in  the  strangest  metrical  forms.  Much  of  this 
peculiarity  of  style  maybe  accounted  for  by  the  circumstances 
of  his  romantic  life. 

Both  his  parents  died  when  he  was  a  little  child,  and  he 
was  adopted  by  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Richmond,  Va.,  who 
gave  him  his  own  name  of  Allan.  When  he  was  about  six 
years  old,  Mr.  Allan  placed  him  at  school  in  England,  where 
he  remained  five  years,  and  then  accompanied  his  patron's 
family  back  to  America.  He  is  described  at  this  time  as  a 
clever  boy,  of  reserved  and  capricious  temperament,  and 
fond  of  athletic  sports.  When  about  fourteen,  he  formed  a 
deep  attachment  for  the  mother  of  one  of  his  school-fellows, 
who  exercised  great  influence  over  the  motherless  lad,  and 
from  the  poignant  grief  he  experienced  at  her  death  he  him- 
self dated  the  birth  of  his  first  poetic  impulses. 

Three  years  later,  he  entered  the  University  of  Virginia, 
and  might  have  taken  highest  honors  had  not  his  excessive 
love  of  sport  and  cards  interfered  with  study.  On  leaving 
college,  Mr.  Allan  placed  him  in  his  own  office,  but  his  natural 
restlessness  and  idealistic  temper  made  the  life  distasteful, 
and  he  went  off  to  Boston  to  take  life  in  his  own  hand. 

There  he  published  a  volume  of  poems,  in  1827,  that  had 


POETRY.  1 43 

no  success,  and,  finding  literature  unprofitable,  enlisted  in  the 
army.  After  awhile,  he  made  known  his  position  to  Mr. 
Allan,  and  was  honorably  discharged.  In  1830  Mr.  Allan 
sent  him  to  West  Point,  but  he  disliked  the  routine  work,  and 
purposely  neglected  his  duties  in  order  to  get  himself  cash- 
iered. He  has  been  spoken  of  by  his  comrades  as  kindly, 
but  excessively  shy  and  reserved,  and  making  no  friends. 

Just  before  leaving  West  Point  he  managed,  by  subscrip- 
tion among  the  cadets,  to  publish  another  volume  of  poems ; 
but  it  was  received  only  with  ridicule. 

He  resolved  to  go  to  the  South,  and  in  Baltimore  lived  a 
hard,  struggling  life,  only  cheered  by  the  society  of  his  aunt, 
Mrs.  Clemm,  whose  beautiful  daughter  he  married  while  she 
was  still  a  child  of  fourteen,  and  to  whom  he  was  devoted  till 
her  death.  Removing  to  Richmond,  he  there  became  editor 
of  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger  for  a  short  time,  and 
subsequently  engaged  in  editorial  work  in  Philadelphia. 
There,  as  elsewhere,  his  peculiarities  and  his  sharp  and  biting 
criticisms,  with  his  inveterate  habit  of  setting  himself  up  as 
censor  of  better-known  men,  prevented  his  gaining  friends 
among  literary  people,  and  he  ultimately  went  to  New  York, 
apparently  with  no  more  definite  object  than  that  of  making 
a  fresh  start  in  a  new  place. 

For  ten  years,  in  adverse  circumstances,  but  with  indomit- 
able spirit,  he  wrote  industriously,  but  with  no  adequate  finan- 
cial success.  His  genius  was  fully  acknowledged,  but  his 
unhappy  faculty  for  making  enemies  by  bitter  attacks  on  the 
editors  and  poets  who  were  his  contemporaries  was  a  barrier 
to  attaining  any  social  position.  His  wife's  health  began  to 
fail,  and  his  own  gave  way  at  length  under  the  perpetual  strain 
to  which  nerves  and  brain  were  subjected ;  one  of  the  most 


1 44  POETRY. 

piteous  facts  known  of  him  being  that  he  suffered  the  more 
from  denying  himself  absolute  necessities  for  the  sake  of  the 
dying  girl. 

Another  poet  has  said : 

"  Most  piteous  among  all  pitiful  things 
Is  the  end  of  a  thwarted  life," 

and  the  words  might  have  been  written  concerning  Poe. 

Though  he  began  work  again  soon  after  his  wife's  death  in 
1847,  his  fitfulness  and  uncertainty  still  hindered  success  ; 
and  after  many  vicissitudes,  having  formed  a  marriage 
engagement,  he  started  for  the  South  to  be  married  in  July,. 
1850.  He  reached  no  farther  than  Baltimore,  however; 
having  been  taken  ill  on  the  train.  He  appears  to  have  wan- 
dered around  in  Baltimore  for  a  few  days,  and  it  is  believed 
that  he  was  drugged  by  politicians  who  made  him  vote 
at  several  places  ;  for  he  was  found  unconscious  near  a 
polling  place,  and  being  removed  to  the  Washington 
Hospital  died  shortly  after  his  admission. 

His  prose  tales,  powerful  and  weird,  often  mystical,  secured 
for  him  a  wide  and  lasting  popularity  in  France.  In  England 
and  America  his  widest  popularity  was  attained  by  the  well- 
known  " Raven,"  which  is  unique,  like  the  "Ancient 
Mariner"  of  Coleridge.  Among  his  less  popular  poems 
there  runs  a  vein  of  melancholy,  a  deep,  almost  passionate 
self-consciousness,  and  glimpses  at  times  of  a  higher  faith 
than  is  suggested  by  what  is  known  of  his  life,  although  the 
best  of  them  show  little  sympathy  with  ordinary  humanity, 
and  small  regard  for  the  vital  interests  of  life. 

Nevertheless,  his  wonderful  facility  of  expression,  visions 
of  beauty,  and  above  all  unrivaled  originality  secure  him  his 


POETRY.  145 

high  place  among  our  representative  poets.  A  memorial  to 
him  has  been  erected  by  the  school  teachers  of  Baltimore, 
and  another  by  the  actors  of  New  York,  in  the  Metropolitan 
Museum. 

No  two  lives,  no  two  literary  celebrities,  could  afford 
stronger  contrasts  than  do  those  of  Edgar  A.  Poe  and  John 
Greenleaf  Whittier. 

Born  at  Haverhill,  Mass.,  in  quiet  times  (December,  1807), 
his  parents  being  Friends,  Whittier  spent  a  serene  childhood 
and  led  a  quiet  home-life  on  his  father's  farm  until  his 
twentieth  year,  when  he  went  for  two  years  to  the  Haverhill 
Academy.  As  a  child  he  gave  no  sign  of  precocity,  though 
extremely  intelligent.  In  1829  he  became  editor  of  the 
American  Manufacturer  in  Boston,  and  the  next  year  went 
to  Hartford,  to  edit  the  Northeastern  Weekly  Review.  Re- 
turning in  a  year  or  two  to  Haverhill,  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  during  1835-6,  and  became 
Secretary  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  In  1838-9  he  edited 
the  Pennsylvanian  Freeman,  in  which  capacity  his  high  ideas 
of  patriotism  and  advocacy  of  humane  principles  earned  him 
much  opposition,  which  culminated  in  the  burning  and 
destruction  of  his  office  by  the  mob. 

Whittier  had  now  begun  to  write  a  great  deal,  both  in 
prose  and  poetry,  chiefly  in  support  of  his  anti-slavery  views. 
In  1847,  while  still  writing  much  poetry,  he  edited  the  National 
Era.  At  this  period  a  large  number  of  his  poems,  inspired 
by  current  events,  assumed  a  distinctively  national  tone ;  but 
in  the  greater  part  of  his  productions  the  charm  lies  in  their 
exquisite  poetic  sentiment.  In  these  his  intense  love  of 
nature  is  conspicuous — but  his  nature  is  American  all 
through.  He  sings  of  that  whereof  he  knows.  His  flowers 
10 


1 46  POETRY. 

and  birds  and  streams  are  those  of  his  own  land,  and  we 
feel  that  the  lessons  they  teach  are  lessons  he  himself  has 
learned. 

In  the  late  autumn  of  his  long  and  useful  life,  Whittier 
still  wrote,  preserving  the  beauteous  spring-tide  in  perennial 
freshness. 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  was  born  in  Portland, 
Maine,  in  1802  ;  a  birthplace  peculiarly  fitted  to  exert  a  benefi- 
cent influence  on  the  mind  of  a  thoughtful  child,  to  whom 
the  lively  stirring  events  of  every  day  in  a  sea-port  town  are 
of  unfailing  interest.  The  picturesque  beauty  of  the  town, 
and  the  charm  of  the  society  existing  there  in  the  opening 
years  of  this  century  were  doubtless  large  factors  in  the  de- 
velopment of  Longfellow's  poetic  instinct. 

His  boyhood  was  very  happy,  and  he  was  remarkable  for 
quiet  intelligence  and  the  sweetness  of  his  disposition.  His 
first  poetic  efforts  were  made  when  he  was  about  thirteen.  In 
1822  he  entered  Bowdoin  College,  and  while  there  his  liter- 
ary tastes  developed  more  strongly,  and  his  faculty  for 
thoroughness  became  marked. 

In  one  of  his  letters  at  this  time  occurs  the  characteristic 
sentence,  "  Whatever  study  I  am  engaged  in  I  must  devote 
my  whole  soul  to  it.  I  will  be  eminent  in  something." 

In  1824,  when  the  question  of  his  adopting  a  profession 
was  mooted,  he  wished  to  devote  himself  to  literature,  but  his 
father  demurred  on  the  ground  that  it  did  not  offer  sufficient 
promise  of  support ;  however,  he  compromised  by  allowing 
his  son  one  year  at  Cambridge  for  literary  studies. 

Just  at  that  time  the  trustees  of  the  college  established  £ 
professorship  of  modern  languages,  and  offered  the  position 
to  the  young  Longfellow,  who  was  already  distinguished  as  a 


POETRY.  147 

student  and  writer.  This  led  to  his  visiting  France,  Spain, 
and  Germany  for  special  study,  and  on  his  return  he  took  up 
his  residence  at  Brunswick,  and  commenced  his  work  at 
Bowdoin.  He  was  then,  though  but  twenty-two  years  of 
age,  considered  the  most  accomplished  student  of  modern 
languages  in  America,  except  W.  George  Ticknor,  of 
Harvard. 

Thoroughly  devoted  to  teaching,  Prof.  Longfellow  exer- 
cised great  influence  over  his  students.  He  published  some 
articles  in  the  North  American  Review  about  this  time, 
but  had  for  some  time  relegated  poetry  to  the  background. 
In  1834,  however,  he  removed  to  a  wider  sphere.  He  was 
appointed  to  succeed  George  Ticknor  at  Harvard  ;  and  spent 
a  preliminary  year  in  Germany,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Hol- 
land, mastering  the  language  of  each  country  in  that  time,  with 
Finnish. 

During  this  journey  Mrs.  Longfellow  died,  at  Rotterdam, 
and  from  the  period  of  depression  which  followed  his  loss,  he 
was  aroused  by  the  cheerful  presence  of  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  whom  he  then  met ;  and  he  was  encouraged  to  take 
up  his  studies  again. 

The  touch  of  sorrow  aroused  once  more  the  divine  gift  of 
poesy,  and  having  returned  to  America  and  made  Cambridge 
his  home,  he  published  Hyperion,  followed  soon  by  Voices  of 
the  Night,  of  which  Hawthorne  said  :  "  Nothing  equal  has  as 
yet  been  written  in  our  Western  world." 

Longfellow  still  continued  teaching,  but  gave  much  time  to 
poetry,  and  rapidly  became  the  best  known  and  most  widely 
read  of  living  poets. 

In  1842  he  sent  forth  his  Poems  on  Slavery  in  a  thin 
volume  that  was  heartily  approved  and  as  heartily  con- 


1 48  POETRY. 

demned,  its  object  being  more  the  expression  of  moral  senti- 
ment than  the  expression  of  poetic  feeling. 

In  1843  Mr-  Longfellow  married  again  ;  his  union  with  the 
daughter  of  Mr.  Nathan  Appleton  of  Boston  being  an  excep- 
tionally happy  one,  and  his  life  becoming  one  of  unbroken 
peace  for  many  years. 

After  eighteen  years'  work,  he  resigned  his  professorship 
at  Harvard,  and  gave  himself  entirely  to  writing. 

The  first  fruits  of  his  leisure  was  the  marvelous  Hiawatha, 
that  added  fresh  laurels  to  his  fame. 

In  1861  his  literary  work  was  laid  aside  in  consequence  of 
the  shock  attendant  on  the  sad  death  of  his  wife  by  fire. 
After  awhile,  he  took  up  the  task  of  translating  the  Divina 
Commedia  as  a  distraction  from  sad  thought,  which  after  four 
years'  work  was  published,  and  immediately  pronounced  the 
finest  translation  of  Dante  in  the  English  language.  From 
1867  onward  to  1880,  he  published  new  poems,  all  instinct 
with  the  fire  and  vigor,  grace  and  melody  of  earlier  days  ; 
and  wrote  his  last  lines  only  a  few  days  before  his  death,  in 
March,  1882. 

In  England  his  death  was  mourned  as  a  calamity ;  and  in 
1884  a  bust  of  him  was  placed  in  the  poets'  corner  in  West- 
minster Abbey  ;  the  first  time  such  honor  had  been  paid  to 
an  American  poet. 

In  both  England  and  America,  the  purity  of  the  life  that 
expressed  itself  in  such  pure,  sweet  utterance  was  felt 
and  honored,  and  to  the  majority  of  English  people,  Longfel- 
low will  long  remain  their  ideal  of  an  American  poet. 


SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. 

\       FE  have  stumbled  upon   a  pathway — a  pathway  lifted 
I  A  /      from  the  dead-level  of  commonplace  existence  byr 
J[|l       bold  spurs  and  peaks  of  thought  and  achievement, 
beginning-  in   the   dim   distance  with   the  inevitable- 
cradle  rocked  by  the  hand  of  love,  climbing  precipitately  as- 
it  grows  in  the  perspective  from  the  sunny  meadow  lands  of/ 
pastoral  existence  into  a  region  of  perpetual  struggle  up  op- 
posing heights,  till,  at  the  very  inception  of  a  bolder  ascent 
up  a  highest  height,  it  ends,  falling  abruptly  out  of  sight  into>- 
the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.     Who  traced  this- 
pathway,  at  whose  finis  stands  in  monumental  grandeur  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  achievements  in  enodneerinor  skill?  Who» 

o  o 

is  this  who  has  dared  to  think  and  clothe  his  thought  in  forms- 
whose  utility  and  whose  magnificence  make  equal  demands 
upon  our  gratitude  and  admiration  ?  Search  must  be  made 
for  him  among  the  annals  of  the  dead,  and  whatever  laurels 
there  may  be  for  him  must  be  laid  upon  the  unfeeling  stone 
that  covers  him,  and  that  bears  cut  into  its  marble  heart  the 
name  of  John  A.  Roebling.  This  is  the  end — a  grave — a 
grave  cherished  in  the  bosom  of  his  adopted  land,  America, 
while  Miilhausen,  in  Thiiringia,  Prussia,  with  just  pride 
claims  him  as  her  native  son.  There  was  he  born,  June 
1 2th,  1806  ;  there  was  he  trained  in  the  schools,  during  early 

149 


j^o  SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 

boyhood,  to  habits  of  industry,  and,  later,  by  contact  with  a 
thoughtful  people,  to  thorough  self-conquest  and  masterful 
.self-reliance. 

Going  from  Miilhausen  to  Berlin,  he  there  attended  the 
'Royal  Polytechnic  School,  and,  on  the  completion  of  his 
studies,  received  the  degree  of  civil  engineer.  Required  to 
devote  three  years  to  the  service  of  the  State,  he  sought  and 
found  employment  in  the  public  works  at  Westphalia.  On 
the  completion  of  his  three  years'  term  of  service,  Mr. 
Roebling,  now  twenty-five,  began  to  look  about  for  some 
permanent  position  congenial  to  his  habits  of  thought  and 
-worthy  the  outlay  of  strength  he  felt  to  be  his.  His  native 
land  offering  nothing  immediately  convincing  to  his  judg- 
ment, and  the  new  America  appealing  strongly  to  him  with 
her  wide  and  untried  fields  of  labor,  he  yielded,  and  took  the 
final  step  that  transferred  him  from  the  Old  World  to  the 
New. 

He  settled  near  Pittsburgh,  and  notwithstanding  his  tastes 
and  education  pointed  to  other  employment,  he  returned, 
forced,  perhaps,  by  immediate  necessities,  to  primitive 
;methods  of  gaining  a  livelihood,  and  for  several  years 
wrested  from  the  soil  his  needful  sustenance.  This  could 
never  have  been  congenial  employment,  and,  abandoning  it, 
he  obtained  the  position  of  assistant  engineer  in  slackwater 
navigation  on  the  Beaver  River,  in  Ohio,  afterward  becom- 
ing engineer  on  Sandy  and  Beaver  Canal. 

Railways  momentarily  growing  in  favor,  Mr.  Roebling 
:  seized  on  the  popular  prejudice,  and  began  surveying  lines 
.  of  railway  across  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  In  three  years 
the  surveyed  as  many  lines,  connecting  Harrisburg  with  Pitts- 
•  burgh. 


SUSPENSION    BRIDGE.  ^j 

In  the  interval  following  these  labors,  he  began  the  manu- 
facture of  wire  rope,  introducing  into  America  a  new  me- 
chanical agent  of  vastly  superior  strength  and  durability. 
He  first  used  it  on  the  portage  railway  on  which  canal  boats 
were  carried  across  the  Allegheny  Mountains. 

His  first  idea  of  suspension  bridges  was  developed  at 
Pittsburgh  in  1844.  The  wooden  aqueduct  of  Pennsylvania 
Canal  becoming  unsafe,  the  erection  of  a  new  one  became 
imperative.  The  contract  was  let  to  Mr.  Roebling,  and 
specified  that  the  work  should  be  completed  in  nine  months, 
including  the  winter  season  of  1844-45.  The  river  current 
was  dangerously  rapid,  the  machinery  novel  to  the  workmen, 
and  the  winter  proved  to  be  a  rigorous  one.  Added  to  these 
physical  difficulties  was  the  more  subtle  and  intangible  one 
of  hostility  among  neighboring  engineers.  But  "  a  strenu- 
ous soul  hates  cheap  successes,"  and  Mr.  Roebling's  ener- 
gies were  braced  instead  of  undermined  by  these  obstacles. 
With  energy,  patience,  and  a  divine  faith  in  himself,  he  com- 
menced the  work.  Within  the  specified  time  he  had  built 
the  aqueduct,  comprising  seven  spans  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-two  feet  each,  consisting  of  a  wooden  trunk  to  hold 
water,  and  supported  by  a  continuous  wire  cable  on  each 
side  seven  inches  in  diameter.  It  was  opened  to  commerce 
May,  1845,  scoring  a  brilliant  victory  for  Mr.  Roebling,  being 
the  material  proof  of  his  triumph  over  hostile  conditions,  and 
the  strict  accordance  of  his  ideas  with  the  great  laws  of  civil 
engineering. 

One  such  triumph  secured  him  opportunity  for  further 
development  of  his  ideas.  The  old  bridge  at  Pittsburgh 
being  destroyed  by  fire,  he  constructed  the  Monongahela 
suspension  bridge  on  piers  of  the  old  one.  It  consisted  of 


SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 

eight  spans  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  each,  supported  by 
two  four-and-a-half  inch  cables. 

In  the  interim,  between  1848  and  1850,  he  removed  to 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  constructed  four  suspension  aque- 
ducts on  the  line  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal. 

In  1851  Mr.  Roebling's  attention  was  called  to  a  proposed 
railway  suspension  bridge  across  the  Niagara  River.  Ste- 
iphenson  did  not  believe  the  suspension  principle  could  be 
made  practical  for  railway  traffic,  and  in  accordance  with  this 
Idea,  constructed  a  tubular  bridge  over  Menai  Straits,  though 
he  had  to  deal  with  spans  not  greater  than  four  hundred  and 
seventy  feet.  Mr.  Roebling,  with  a  clearer  conception  of  the 
possibilities  of  the  suspended  span,  adopted  it  and  gave  us 
our  first  railway  suspension  bridge  with  a  clear  span  of  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  supported  by  four  wire  cables 
ten  inches  in  diameter.  The  bridge  was  finished  in  four 
years  and  opened  to  the  public  in  1855,  its  successful  comple- 
tion establishing  Mr.  Roebling,  not  only  as  a  wise  delineator 
of  indisputable  principles,  but  also  as  a  true  interpreter  of 
the  prophetic  spirit  of  human  progress. 

In  1856  this  indomitable  worker  commenced  a  suspension 
bridge  over  the  Kentucky  River  and  had  completed  the 
towers  when  a  financial  collapse  put  an  end  to  the  enterprise. 
From  1858  to  1860  he  was  engaged  in  erecting  another  sus- 
pension bridge  at  Pittsburgh.  The  Civil  War  interposing, 
the  structure  remained  incomplete  till  1867,  when  the  work 
was  resumed  and  carried  to  a  successful  issue. 

In  1865  Mr.  William  C.  Kingsley,  giving  expression  to  a 
fast-growing  sentiment  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  employed 
an  eminent  engineer  to  make  estimates  and  draw  plans  of  a 
bridge  across  East  River,  connecting  the  luxurious  and  pala- 


SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 


153 


tial  Brooklyn  with  the  busy  marts  of  New  York.  The 
necessity  of  Mr.  Kingsley's  movement  received  emphatic 
recognition  during  the  severe  winter  of  1866-67,  when  East 
River  was  gorged  with  ice  and  the  snorting  and  toiling  ferry- 
boats were  hours  making  the  dangerous  passage  between  the 
two  cities.  The  demands  for  a  bridge  grew  vehement,  and 
the  popular  excitement  gave  new  impetus  to  a  charter  placed 
by  leading  citizens  of  Brooklyn  before  the  Legislature  then 
in  session  at  Albany.  This  charter  originally  fixed  the  capital 
stock  at  five  millions,  with  power  to  increase,  and  gave  the 
cities  of  Brooklyn  and  New  York  authority  to  subscribe 
amounts  to  be  determined  by  their  respective  Common 
Councils.  This  charter  was  amended  so  that  the  bridge 
became  public  property,  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  per  cent,  to 
be  paid  for  and  owned  by  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  and- the  rest 
by  the  city  of  New  York,  the  actual  payments  by  the  private 
stockholders  to  be  reimbursed  and  their  title  extinguished. 

o 

A  month  after  the  passage  of  the  bill,  May  23d,  1867,  Mr. 
Roebling  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer,  and  he  made  his 
report  of  surveys  and  estimates  September  ist  of  the  same 
year.  These  plans  were  fully  indorsed  by  a  board  of  con- 
sulting engineers  convened  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Roebling, 
and  also  by  a  commission  of  United  States  engineers  ap- 
pointed by  War  Department,  the  latter,  however,  recommend- 
ing an  increase  of  five  feet  in  the  height  of  the  bridge. 

All  of  Mr.  Roebling's  previous  labors  had  been  but  step- 
ping-stones to  this  gigantic  engineering  feat  with  its  bold 
and  unprecedented  leap  of  nearly  two  thousand  feet  from 
city  to  city.  With  what  personal  pride  he  entered  upon  this 
the  crowning  triumph  of  his  illustrious  career,  it  needs  no 
deep  insight  into  human  nature  to  conjecture.  New  York, 


ICA  SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 

the  chief  city  of  a  young  but  mighty  Republic,  had  called  upon 
him  to  erect  for  her  a  highway  of  unparalleled  grandeur 
across  an  arm  of  the  sea,  dividing  its  great  heart  in  twain. 
This  honor,  too,  was  but  a  just  recognition  of  his  genius 
since  he  had  no  claim  of  birthright  to  predispose  American 
favor  in  his  behalf. 

If,  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  philosophers  con- 
tends, the  work  is  an  exposition  of  the  workman,  how  solid 
and  impregnable,  how  grand,  how  stable  must  have  been  the 
character  of  him  who  planned  the  Brooklyn  bridge  ?  Those 
massive  towers,  second  in  grandeur  only  to  the  ancient 
Egyptian  pyramids ;  that  mighty  arch  hanging  between  them 
holding  in  its  strong  clutch  a  roadway  for  the  annual  passage 
of  forty  millions  of  people.  Out  of  elements  that  thrilled, 
trembled,  and  expanded  at  the  kiss  of  the  sun,  sensitively 
acknowledged  the  influence  of  far-away  heavenly  bodies,  and 
recorded  every  gradation  of  temperature,  he  produced  sta- 
bility, not  by  the  annihilation  of  motion,  but  by  humoring  the 
moods  of  materials,  so  that  their  variations  playing  into  pre- 
arranged expansion  chambers  are  insensible  in  the  bridge 
itself.  This  stately  structure,  the  pride  of  America  and  the 
admiration  of  the  world,  is  but  the  thought  of  Roebling 
vested  with  its  natural  grandeur.  But  only  in  imagination  was 
his  heart  thrilled  and  gladdened  by  this  triumph  of  his 
genius.  Let  us  hope  that  the  unclothed  thought  was  enough 
for  him  since  implacable  death  forever  closed  his  eyes  to  the 
completed  vision.  In  the  summer  of  1869,  while  locating  the 
position  of  one  of  his  towers,  a  ferry-boat  entered  the  slip 
and  thrust  together  the  timbers  that  formed  his  standing- 
place,  catching  his  foot  and  relentlessly  crushing  it.  The  pain- 
ful injury  resulted  in  lockjaw,  of  which  he  died  in  sixteen  days. 


SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 


155 


The  inspirer  was  dead,  but  before  a  wondering  and  sympa- 
thetic public  had  time  to  discuss  the  fate  of  his  enterprise, 
his  son,  Washington,  his  admirer  and  co-worker,  came  for- 
ward to  prove  incontestably  that  the  mantle  of  the  father's 
genius  had  fallen  upon  his  illustrious  son.  Stepping  into  the 
exact  spot  where  the  fatal  shaft  had  struck  his  father,  he  car- 
ried forward  the  great  engineering  battle  against  restless  and 
resisting  currents  of  wind  and  water  till  serried  ranks  of 
wires  and  solid  phalanxes  of  stone  were  marshalled  in 
victorious  splendor  upon  the  field. 

Unacquainted  with  his  methods,  we  might  well  wonder 
what  unnatural  race  of  men  towed  these  massive  towers  into 
place  and  grafted  them  upon  their  rocky  bed  fathoms  below, 
the  river  level.  Who  built  the  towers  themselves,  or  climbed 
their  precipitous  sides  to  a  height  of  two  hundred  and 
seventy-six  feet  and  with  Herculean  strength  lifted  upon 
their  everlasting  shoulders  four  gigantic  cables  like  the  four 
great  strings  of  some  mighty  ^Eolian  harp  ?  Who  spun  the 
cables  themselves,  or  who,  tiring  of  their  incessant  diapason, 
pulled  down  the  aerial  chords  and  weighted  them  with  a  mas- 
sive roadway  obedient  to  the  use  of  man  ? 

Subjecting  his  methods  to  strict  analysis,  we  are  struck 
with  their  simplicity  and  economy.  In  a  work  requiring  the 
same  precision  and  exactness  as  an  abstract  mathematical 
problem,  he  has  employed  only  direct  and  simple  methods  of 
producing  required  results.  But  his  directness  and  simplicity 
are  the  directness  and  simplicity  of  genius. 

The  exact  location  of  the  towers  being  decided  upon,  the 
water-lot  was  marked  off  by  a  landward  row  of  piles  one 
hundred  and  seventy-two  feet  in  length,  and  at  each  end  of 
this  row  and  at  right  angles  to  it,  a  row  extending  one 


'56 


SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 


hundred  and  two  feet  into  the  river,  making  three  sides  of 
an  oblong  inclosure.  Into  this  was  towed  a  huge  wooden 
box  or  caisson  of  like  dimensions  and  with  a  roof  twenty- 
two  feet  thick.  Upon  this  roof,  above  the  water,  was  laid  the 
masonry  forming  the  base  of  the  tower.  As  the  caisson 
sunk,  fresh  masonry  was  added,  and  excavations  were  made 
below  the  river  bed  till  March  nth,  1871,  at  a  depth  of  forty- 
five  feet  below  the  water  level  the  caisson  under  the 
Brooklyn  tower  was  filled  with  concrete  and  left  in  its  final 
resting-place.  During  December,  1870,  an  unfortunate  fire 
occurred  in  this  caisson  in  which  Mr.  Roebling  himself  was 
seriously  and  permanently  injured.  Though  a  strange  fatality 
seemed  to  pursue  the  head  of  the  enterprise,  Mr.  Roebling 
would  not  succumb  to  his  sufferings,  but  from  a  couch  over- 
looking the  scene  of  labor  he  continued  to  direct  the  con- 
struction of  every  detail. 

Seven  months  after  the  completion  of  the  foundation  of 
the  Brooklyn  tower,  the  one  on  the  New  York  side  was  fitted 
to  its  rocky  resting-place,  seventy-eight  feet  below  high- 
water  mark. 

The  towers,  awful  in  their  impenetrable  massiveness,  rise 
to  the  height  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  feet,  tapering 
from  a  water-line  circumference  of  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  feet  to  a  roof  circumference  of  three  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  feet.  The  second  one  reached  completion 
July,  1876,  and  the  two  stood  ready  to  bear  up  the  great 
suspension  cables.  These  cables  are  fifteen  and  three- 
quarter  inches  in  diameter  and  contain  five  thousand  two 
hundred  and  eighty-two  parallel  wires  tightly  clamped  to- 
gether and  bound  with  a  spiral  coil  of  wire  rope.  The  five 
thousand  wires  were  first  spun  into  strands  of  two  hundred 


SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 


I57 


and  seventy-eight  wires  each,  nineteen  strands  composing  a 
cable,  the  odd  strand  for  the  centre,  and  the  other  eighteen 
forming  two  circles  about  it.  The  spinning  of  the  strands 
was  accomplished  by  means  of  a  sheave  traveling  along  an 
endless  belt  which  revolved  by  steam-power  throughout  the 
distance  from  tower  to  tower  and  back  over  their  tops  to  the 
anchorages  nine  hundred  and  thirty  feet  distant  on  either  side. 
The  wire  was  passed  about  the  sheave,  the  belt  set  in  motion, 
and  the  two  spans  or  complete  circuit  of  wire  arriving  at 
the  anchorage  was  placed  about  the  great  iron  horseshoe 
fixed  to  receive  it.  The  sheave  was  then  returned  empty  to 
receive  a  new  circuit  of  wire  and  make  a  new  journey.  The 
spinning  of  the  cables  was  begun  June  nth,  1877,  and  the 
four  were  completed  October  I5th,  1878.  They  swoop  down- 
ward in  parallel  and  majestic  curves,  meeting  at  their  central 
point  the  upward  curve  of  the  roadway,  and  after  climbing 
over  the  tops  of  the  towers  sweep  downward  again  to  their 
anchorages  of  stone  one  hundred  and  nineteen  by  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  feet  at  their  base,  rising  ninety  feet  above 
high-water  mark,  and  weighing  sixty  thousand  tons. 

The  cables  do  not  rest  with  a  vertical  pressure  immediately 
on  the  tops  of  the  towers  but  are  placed  on  a  "  cradle/'  a 
cast-iron  plate  in  the  shape  of  a  segment  of  a  circle,  the 
curved  side  indented  to  admit  the  cable  and  the  straight  side 
resting  on  rollers  that  move  easily  with  the  lengthening  or 
shortening  of  the  cable. 

The  ends  of  the  roadway  pierce  the  towers  at  a  height  of 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  feet  above  the  water  level,  the 
land  spans  being  nine  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  and  the  grand 
central  span,  gently  swelling  like  the  crest  of  a  huge  billow 
to  a  central  height  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  above 


158  SUSPENSION    BRIDGE. 

mean  high-water  mark,  being  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
ninety-five  feet  in  length.  The  framework  consists  essentially 
of  two  systems  of  girders  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  braced 
vertically,  horizontally,  and  diagonally,  so  that  "  no  conceiv- 
able cause  can  ever  disturb  its  rigid  fixity  of  position  and 
form."  Steel  suspenders  droop  from  the  cables  and  into 
these  are  thrust  the  steel  beams  of  the  roadway.  The  bridge 
is  divided  into  five  parallel  avenues  by  the  six  vertical  lines 
of  trussing  which  project  upward  like  steel  fences.  The 
outside  avenues,  nearly  nineteen  feet  wide,  are  devoted  to 
vehicles,  the  adjacent  ones  to  cars  moved  by  cables  connect- 
ing with  a  stationary  engine,  while  the  central  one,  fifteen 
and  a  half  feet  wide  and  elevated  twelve  feet  above  the  others, 
is  reserved  for  pedestrians,  securing  to  them  a  vantage 
ground,  whence  with  unobstructed  vision  they  may  behold  an 
unequaled  panorama  of  beauty  and  variety.  Beneath 'is  the 
busy  river,  on  either  side  the  busier  cities,  two  mighty  batte- 
ries surcharged  with  life,  of  which  the  bridge  is  the  connect- 
ing wire;  beyond,  "villa-dotted  Staten  Island,"  New  Jersey, 
the  Palisades,  Long  Island,  the  Narrows,  the  bay,  and  last 
the  illimitable  ocean  veiling  its  horizon  in  the  sky. 

May  24th,  1883,  the  bridge  was  formally  opened  to  the 
public,  having  been  thirteen  years  in  construction  and  having 
cost,  exclusive  of  land  damages  and  incidental  outlays,  nine 
millions  of  dollars.  With  pomp  and  ceremony  it  passed 
from  the  hands  of  the  workmen  and  was  dedicated  to  its 
eternal  labors.  Consecrated  by  the  death  of  the  elder  and 
the  hopeless  invalidity  of  the  younger  Roebling  to  the  slow 
expiation  of  these  deeds,  it  bears  its  burdens  in  silent  and 
sombre  patience,  and  will  bear  them  till  the  pitying  "  cen- 
turies shall  have  rusted  its  filaments  into  nothingness." 


BESSEMER  STEEL. 

|  |  ENRY  BESSEMER,  youngest  son  of  Anthony  Bes- 
Vl  semer,  was  born  in  1813,  at  Charlton,  Hertfordshire, 

•  /  England.  His  boyhood  was  spent  in  his  native 
^  A  village  and  the  neighboring  town  of  Hitchin,  where 
^*  he  received  the  rudiments  of  an  ordinary  educa- 
tion. Notwithstanding  his  imperfect  mechanical  appliances, 
his  early  years  were  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  his  in- 
ventive faculties.  His  parents  encouraged  him  in  his  youth- 
ful efforts. 

Like  many  other  modern  inventors,  he  seems  to  have  in- 
herited the  genius  of  the  father. 

Anthony  Bessemer  was  a  member  of  the  French  Academy 
of  Sciences  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  At  the  time  of  the 
great  Revolution  of  1792  he  was  employed  in  the  French 
Mint.  During  these  troublesome  times  he  was  arrested  and 
held  as  a  political  prisoner  for  a  short  time,  but  succeeded  in 
escaping,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  and  fled  to  England.  Here 
his  talents  proved  a  passport  to  success,  and  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  situation  in  the  English  Mint. 

By  the  exercise  of  his  ingenuity  and  inventive  faculties  he 
acquired  in  his  employment  sufficient  means  to  purchase  a 
small  estate  in  Hertfordshire,  where  he  afterward  resided. 

After  settling  in  England,  he  began  making  improvements 

159 


j5o  BESSEMER    STEEL. 

in  microscopes  and  in  type-founding.  He  engraved  an  en- 
tire series  of  type  from  pica  to  diamond.  The  success  of 
these  type  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  firm  of  Bessemer 
&  Catherwood. 

The  great  improvement  which  Anthony  Bessemer  intro- 
duced into  the  art  of  type-making  was  not  so  much  in  the 
engraving  as  in  the  composition  of  the  metal.  He  discovered 
that  an  alloy  of  copper,  tin,  and  bismuth  was  the  most  de- 
sirable metal  for  type,  and  the  working  of  this  discovery  was 
very  successful  in  his  hands.  He  kept  this  secret  for  some 
years,  diverting  attention  from  the  real  cause  of  success — the 
composition  of  the  metal — by  inviting  comparison  between  the 
shape  of  the  type  which  he  made  and  those  of  other  manu- 
facturers. His  secret,  however,  was  finally  discovered  and 
the  process  patented. 

One  of  his  discoveries  was  a  source  of  considerable  profit 
to  him.  It  is  generally  known  that  when  gold  articles  are 
made  by  the  jewelers  there  are  various  discolorations  left  on 
their  surface  by  the  process  of  manufacture,  and  in  order  to 
clean  the, surface  they  are  put  into  a  solution  of  alum,  salt, 
and  saltpetre,  which  dissolves  a  large  quantity  of  the  copper 
that  is  used  as  an  alloy.  Anthony  Bessemer  discovered  that 
this  powerful  acid  not  only  dissolved  the  copper,  but  also  dis- 
solved a  quantity  of  the  gold.  He  accordingly  began  to  buy 
up  this  liquor,  and,  as  he  was  the  only  one  who  possessed  a 
knowledge  of  its  real  value,  he  had  no  difficulty  in  purchasing 
all  that  he  desired.  From  the  liquor  thus  obtained  he  suc- 
ceeded in  extracting  gold  in  considerable  quantities,  which 
was  a  source  of  support  for  many  years. 

By  some  means  which  he  kept  secret  (and  the  secret  died 
with  him)  he  deposited  the  particles  of  gold  on  the  shavings 


BESSEMER    STEEL.  l6l 

of  another  metal,  which,  being  afterward  melted,  left  the  pure 
gold  in  small  quantity.  Thirty  years  afterward  the  electro- 
type process  was  invented,  producing  the  same  effect. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  Henry  Bessemer  went  to  London, 
"knowing  no  one,"  he  says,  "and  myself  unknown — a  mere 
cipher  in  a  vast  sea  of  human  enterprise."  Here  he  worked 
as  a  modeler  and  designer  with  encouraging  success.  With 
a  diamond  point  he  engraved  a  large  number  of  elegant  and 
original  designs  on  steel  for  patent  medicine  labels. 

He  secured  plenty  of  work  in  his  line  and  was  well  paid 
for  it. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  began  to  mature  some  plans  in 
connection  with  the  production  of  stamps  which  he  hoped 
would  lead  him  on  to  fortune.  At  that  time  the  old  form  of 
stamps  were  in  use  that  had  been  employed  since  the  day  of 
Queen  Anne,  and  as  they  were  easily  transferred  from  old 
deeds  to  new  ones,  the  government  lost  a  large  amount  an- 
nually by  this  surreptitious  practice.  The  ordinary  impressed 
or  embossed  stamps  such  as  are  now  employed  on  bills  of 
exchange,  or  impressed  directly  on  skins  of  parchment,  were 
liable  to  be  entirely  obliterated  if  exposed  for  some  months 
to  a  damp  atmosphere.  A  deed  so  exposed  would  at  last 
appear  unstamped,  and  would  therefore  become  invalid.  To 
prevent  this  it  was  the  practice  to  gum  small  pieces  of  blue 
paper  on  the  parchment,  and,  to  render  it  still  more  secure, 
a  strip  of  metal  foil  was  passed  through  it,  and  another  piece 
of  paper,  with  the  printed  initials  of  the  sovereign,  was 
gummed  over  the  loose  end  of  the  foil  at  the  back.  The 
stamp  was  then  impressed  on  the  blue  paper,  which,  unlike 
parchment,  is  incapable  of  losing  the  impression  by  exposure 
to  a  damp  atmosphere.  Experience  showed,  however,  that 


BESSEMER    STEEL. 

by  placing  a  little  piece  of  moistened  blotting-paper  for  a 
few  hours  over  the  paper  the  gum  became  so  softened  that 
the  two  pieces  of  paper  and  the  slip  of  foil  could  be  easily  re- 
moved from  an  old  deed  and  then  used  for  a  new  one.  In 
this  way  one  stamp  could  be  used  a  second  and  a  third  time, 
thus  depriving  the  public  revenue  of  thousands  of  pounds 
every  year. 

Our  young  inventor  at  once  set  to  work  to  devise  a  stamp 
that  could  not  be  used  twice.  His  first  discovery  was  a 
mode  by  which  he  could  have  reproduced  easily  and  cheaply 
thousands  of  stamps  of  any  pattern.  "  The  facility,"  he  says, 
"  with  which  I  could  make  a  permanent  die  from  a  thin  paper 
original,  capable  of  producing  a  thousand  copies,  would  have 
opened  a  wide  door  for  successful  frauds  if  my  process  had 
been  known  to  unscrupulous  persons,  for  there  is  not  a  gov- 
ernment stamp  or  a  paper  seal  of  a  corporate  body  that  every 
common  office  clerk  could  not  forge  in  a  few  minutes  at  the 
office  of  his  employer  or  at  his  own  home.  The  production 
of  such  a  die  from  a  common  paper  stamp  is  a  work  of  only 
ten  minutes,  the  materials  cost  less  than  one  penny,  no  sort 
of  technical  skill  is  necessary,  and  a  common  copying  press 
or  a  letter-stamp  yields  most  successful  copies." 

To  this  day  a  successful  forger  has  to  employ  a  skillful 
die-sinker  to  make  a  good  imitation  in  steel  of  the  document 
he  wishes  to  forge,  but  if  such  a  method  as  that  discovered 
and  described  by  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  were  known,  what  a 
prospect  it  would  open  up  !  Appalled  at  the  effect  which  the 
communication  of  such  a  process  would  have  had  upon  the 
business  of  the  Stamp  Office,  he  carefully  kept  the  knowledge 
of  it  to  himself,  and  to  this  day  it  remains  a  secret.  More  than 
ever  impressed  with  the  necessity  for  an  improved  form  of 


BESSEMER    STEEL. 

stamp,  and  conscious  of  his  own  capability  to  produce  it,  he 
labored  for  some  months  to  accomplish  his  object,  feeling 
sure  that,  if  successful,  he  would  be  amply  rewarded  by  the 
government.  To  insure  the  secrecy  of  his  experiments,  he 
worked  at  them  during  the  night,  after  his  ordinary  business 
of  the  day  was  over.  He  succeeded  at  last  in  making  a 
stamp  which  obviated  the  great  objection  to  the  then  exist- 
ing form,  inasmuch  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  transfer  it 
from  one  deed  to  another,  to  obliterate  it  by  moisture,  or  to 
take  an  impression  from  it  capable  of  producing  a  duplicate. 
Flushed  with  success  and  confident  of  the  reward  of  his 
labors,  he  waited  upon  Sir  Charles  Persley,  at  Somerset 
House,  and  showed  him  by  numerous  proofs  how  easily  all 
the  then  existing  stamps  could  be  forged,  and  how  his  new 
invention  prevented  forgery.  Sir  Charles,  who  was  much 
astonished  at  the  disclosure  of  imperfections  in  the  one  and 
highly  pleased  with  the  other,  asked  the  inventor  to  work 
out  more  perfectly  the  principle  of  the  new  stamping  inven- 
tion. Accordingly,  Sir  Henry  devoted  several  weeks  to  per- 
fecting his  stamp,  with  which  the  Stamp  Office  authorities 
were  well  pleased.  The  design,  as  described  by  the  in- 
ventor, was  circular,  about  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter, 
and  consisted  of  a  garter,  with  a  motto  in  capital  letters, 
surmounted  by  a  crown.  Within  the  garter  was  a  shield 
with  the  words,  "  Five  Pounds."  The  space  between  the 
shield  and  the  garter  was  filled  with  network  in  imitation  of 
lace.  The  die  was  executed  in  steel,  which  pierced  the 
parchment. with  more  than  four  hundred  holes,  and  these 
holes  formed  the  stamp.  Such  a  stamp  removed  all  the  ob- 
jections to  the  old  one.  So  pleased  was  Sir  Charles  with  it 
that  he  recommended  it  to  Lord  Althorp,  and  it  was  soon 


j£4  BESSEMER    STEEL. 

adopted  by  the  Stamp  Office.  At  the  same  time  the  in- 
ventor was  asked  whether  he  would  be  satisfied  with  the 
position  of  superintendent  of  stamps,  with  five  or  six  hun- 
dred pounds  per  annum  as  compensation  for  his  invention, 
instead  of  a  sum  of  money  from  the  treasury.  This  appoint- 
ment he  gladly  agreed  to  accept,  for,  being  engaged  to  be 
married  at  the  time,  he  thought  his  future  position  in  life  was 
settled.  Shortly  afterward  he  called  on  the  young  lady  to 
whom  he  was  engaged,  and  communicated  the  glad  tidings 
of  bright  prospects,  at  the  same  time  showing  her  the  de- 
sign of  his  new  stamp.  On  explaining  to  her  that  its  chief 
virtue  was  in  prohibiting  the  new  stamps  thus  produced  from 
being  fraudulently  used  twice  or  thrice,  she  instantly  sug- 
gested that  a  date  put  upon  the  stamp  might  add  addi- 
tional security  to  its  legal  use.  This  idea  was  new  to  him, 
and,  impressed  with  its  practical  character,  he  at  once  con- 
ceived a  plan  for  the  insertion  of  movable  dates  in  the  die  of 
his  stamp.  Having  worked  out  the  details  of  a  stamp  with 
movable  dates,  he  saw  that  it  was  more  simple  and  more 
easily  worked  than  his  elaborate  die  for  perforating  stamps ; 
but  he  also  saw  that  if  he  disclosed  his  latest  invention  it 
might  interfere  with  his  settled  prospects  in  connection  with 
the  carrying  out  of  his  first  one.  It  was  not  without  regret, 
too,  that  he  saw  the  results  of  months  of  toil  and  the  experi- 
ments of  many  lonely  nights  superseded,  but  his  conviction 
of  the  superiority  of  his  latest  design  was  so  strong,  and  his 
confidence  in  that  of  the  government  so  unsuspecting  that 
he  boldly  placed  the  whole  matter  before  Sir  Charles  Pers- 
ley.  Of  course  the  new  design  was  preferred,  as  with  it  all 
the  old  dies,  old  presses,  and  old  workmen  could  be  em- 
ployed. 


BESSEMER    STEEL. 


65 


Among  the  other  advantages  which  it  presented  to  the 
government  was  the  fact  that  no  superintendent  of  stamps 
would  now  be  necessaVy,  a  recommendation  which  the  per- 
forating process  did  not  possess.  The  Stamp  Office  there- 
fore abandoned  Sir  Henry's  first  invention  in  favor  of  his 
latest  one,  which  is  still  in  use.  At  the  same  time  the  gov- 
ernment abandoned  the  office  of  superintendent  of  stamps  it 
abandoned  the  ingenious  inventor. 

The  revenue  from  stamps  grew  enormously.  The  Stamp 
Office  reaped  a  benefit  which  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  esti- 
mate, while  the  inventor  did  not  receive  a  farthing. 

"  Success  or  failure  in  first  efforts  often  mold  the  course 
of  after  life  ;  adversity  often  acts  as  a  stimulant."  Fortu- 
nately, this  was  the  case  with  Sir  Henry  Bessemer.  While 
smarting  from  the  injustice  of  the  government,  he  was  en- 
couraged by  the  mechanical  success  of  the  invention  that 
they  had  appropriated.  He  therefore  continued  to  work  out 
new  inventions,  but  took  care  in  future  to  turn  them  to  more 
profitable  account,  and  to  protect  them  from  piracy. 

His  attention  was  next  directed  to  the  difficulty  of  obtain- 
ing good  patterns  of  figured  Utrecht  velvet,  and  he  soon  in- 
vented a  machine  that  overcame  this  difficulty.  Some  of  the 
velvet  it  produced  was  used  in  furnishing  the  state  apart- 
ments at  Windsor  Castle,  and  several  of  these  designs  are 
still  in  use. 

The  next  matter  that  seriously  engaged  his  attention  was 
the  process  of  type-casting,  improvements  in  which  formed 
the  subject  of  his  first  patent. 

His  machine,  which  was  patented  March  8th,  1838,  pro- 
duced the  most  accurate  type  ever  cast  up  to  that  date. 

Some   years   after,    he    constructed  what  was   known  as 


j56  BESSEMER    STEEL. 

"  Young's  Composing  Machine,"  with  which  The  Family 
Herald  was  "  composed  "  by  a  young  lady,  who  with  it  could 
set  from  six  to  seven  thousand  type  per  hour  for  ten  con- 
secutive hours,  but  ultimately  the  great  opposition  of  the 
compositors  led  to  its  abandonment. 

"  Shortly  after  he  had  taken  out  his  first  patent  his  atten- 
tion was  accidentally  turned  to  the  manufacture  of  bronze 
powder,  which  is  used  in  gold  work,  japanning,  gold  print- 
ing, and  similar  operations.  While  engaged  in  ornamenting 
.a  vignette  in  his  sister's  album,  he  had  to  purchase  a  small 
quantity  of  this  bronze,  and  was  struck  with  the  great  differ- 
ence between  the.  price  of  the  raw  material  and  that  of  the 
.manufactured  article.  He  concluded  that  the  difference  was 
caused  by  the  process  of  manufacture,  and  made  inquiries 
with  the  view  of  learning  the  nature  of  the  process.  He 
found  that  this  manufacture  was  hardly  known  in  England. 
The  article  was  supplied  from  Germany.  He  did  not  suc- 
ceed, therefore,  in  finding  any  one  who  could  tell  him  how  it 
was  produced.  Under  these  circumstances,  he  determined 
to  try  to  make  it  himself,  and  worked  at  it  for  two  years  be- 
fore success  crowned  his  efforts." 

"  Knowing  very  little  of  the  patent  law,  and  considering  it 
so  insecure  that  the  safest  way  was  to  keep  it  to  himself,  he 
determined  to  work  his  process  of  bronze-making  in  strict 
secrecy.  He  first  put  up  a  small  apparatus  with  his  own 
hands,  and  worked  it  entirely  by  himself.  He  then  sent  out 
.a  traveler  with  samples  of  the  article,  for  which  he  received 
-enough  orders  to  feel  assured  of  success.  He  then  com- 
ununicated  his  plans  to  a  friend,  who  agreed  to  put  ten  thou- 
sand pounds  into  the  business  as  a  silent  partner.  The  entire 
\working  of  the  concern  was  left  in  the  hands  of  Sir  Henry. 


SSEMER    STEEL. 

To  insure  secrecy,  he  made  plans  of  all  the  machinery  re- 
quired, and  then  divided  them  into  sections.  He  next  sent 
these  sectional  drawings  to  different  engineering  works,  in 
order  to  get  his  machinery  made  piecemeal  in  different  parts 
of  England.  This  done,  he  collected  the  various  pieces  and 
fitted  them  up  himself,  a  work  that  occupied  him  several 
months.  Finding  everything  at  last  in  perfect  working 
order,  he  engaged  assistants  in  whom  he  had  confidence,  and 
paid  them  very  high  wages,  on  condition  that  they  kept 
everything  in  the  strictest  secrecy. 

"  Bronze  powder  was  now  produced  in  large  quantities  by 
means  of  five  self-acting  machines,  which  were  capable  of 
producing  as  much  daily  as  sixty  skilled  workmen  could  da 
by  the  old  hand  system. 

"This  machinery  has  been  in  constant  use  for  over  forty 
years  without  having  been  either  patented  or  pirated. 

"Three  out  of  the  five  assistants  have  died,  and  in  1871  Sir 
Henry  rewarded  the  faithfulness  of  his  surviving  assistants 
by  handing  over  to  them  the  business  and  factory." 

At  the  great  exhibition  of  1857  he  exhibited  several  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  machines  which  were  considered  ingenious 
combinations  of  simplicity  and  power.  One  was  a  pump  for 
land  and  sewer  drainage  capable  of  discharging  twenty  tons 
of  water  per  minute,  and  of  draining  in  one  hour  an  acre  of 
land  one  foot  deep  in  water. 

"  A  novel  machine  for  grinding  and  polishing  plate-glass 
was  much  admired.  In  it  a  slate  table  on  which  the  plate- 
glass  was  laid  had  a  series  of  grooves  and,  by  extracting  the 
air  from  these  grooves  by  means  of  an  air  pump  a  vacuum  was 
produced  so  that  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  glass  held  it  firmly  to  the  table  while  it  was 


BESSEMER    STEEL. 

being  ground  and  polished.  By  turning  a  cock  which  ad- 
mitted the  air  again  the  plate  of  glass  could  be  instantly 
removed.  The  plan  then  in  use  for  holding  down  sheets  of 
glass  was  to  imbed  them  in  plaster  of  Paris — an  operation 
which  had  to  be  performed  four  times  for  each  plate,  and  «in 
which  forty  tons  of  plaster  per  week  were  consumed  in  some 
establishments.  This  was  considered  one  of  the  most 
valuable  apparatus  among  the  mechanical  appliances  ex- 
hibited." 

In  1853  when  the  public  mind  was  much  exercised  by  the 
prospect  of  the  impending  war  with  Russia,  Sir  Henry 
Bessemer  enthusiastically  devoted  his  attention  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  projectiles  and  ordnance  then  in  use. 

He  soon  constructed  elongated  projectiles  to  which  a 
rotary  motion  was  imparted  during  their  passage  through  the 
air  without  the  aid  of  rifled  grooves  which  still  continue  to  be 
made  in  our  ordnance  and  without  any  deviation  from  the 
true  cylindrical  bore  of  the  gun.  To  effect  this  he  made 
small  passages  lengthwise  through  the  projectiles  and  open 
at  the  end  nearest  the  breech  of  the  gun.  Through  these 
passages  a  part  of  the  exploded  powder  found  its  way,  and 
being  emitted  from  the  opposite  sides  of  the  projectile  the 
reactive  force  of  the  exploded  gunpowder  produced  the 
rotary  motion  required.  Among  other  peculiarities  of  this 
gun  was  an  enlarged  powder  chamber — an  improvement  that 
-was  made  the  subject  of  experiment  by  other  inventors  a 
quarter  of  a  century  afterward — and  he  consequently  insisted 
on  increasing  the  strength  of  his  gun  and  the  metal  near  the 
;breech.  To  prevent  inconvenience  from  this  increased 
weight  he  constructed  his  gun  in  parts  which  were  bolted 
together. 


BESSEMER    STEEL.  !  6g 

"  By  this  mode  of  forming  guns  I  am  enabled,"  he  said, 
"  to  use  iron  and  steel  and  thus  form  a  gun  of  great  strength, 
the  parts  of  which  are  of  comparatively  little  weight,  while  it 
also  admits  of  the  various  parts  being  made  of  the  metals 
most  suitable  to  resist  the  peculiar  strain  and  wear  to  which 
they  are  severely  subjected  when  in  use." 

Seeing  that  the  English  Government  had  no  good  artillery 
suitable  for  firing  elongated  projectiles  and  considering  the 
system  of  rifled  grooves  as  dangerous,  he  made  a  series  of 
experiments  with  six-pounder  shots  with  which  he  got  what 
he  considered  more  than  ample  rotation  in  a  smooth-bore 
gun.  He  then  submitted  his  plan  to  the  Government 
authorities  at  Woolwich,  but  it  was  simply  pooh-poohed. 
They  never  ev#n  tried  it. 

Shortly  after  this,  while  Sir  Henry  was  on  a  visit  to  Paris 
with  Lord  John  Hay,  he  attended  a  dinner  given  to  distin- 
guished French  officers  before  their  departure  for  the  Crimea. 
At  that  dinner  Sir  Henry  met  Prince  Napoleon,  to  whom  he 
took  occasion  to  mention  his  plan  of  firing  elongated  projec- 
tiles. So  favorably  was  the  Prince  impressed  that  he  asked 
Sir  Henry  to  explain  it  to  the  Emperor,  and  with  this  view 
arranged  an  interview.  The  Emperor  was  so  pleased  that 
he  invited  Sir  Henry  to  continue  his  experiments  at  Vin- 
cennes.  Other  business  recalling  Sir  Henry  to  London,  he 
asked  the  Emperor's  permission  to  make  his  experiments  in 
London  and  to  bring  the  projectiles  to  Paris  for  trial.  His 
Majesty  not  only  consented,  but  said,  "  In  this  case  you  will 
be  put  to  some  expense,  but  I  will  have  that  seen  to."  Sir 
Henry  returned  to  London,  and  in  a  few  days  afterward  re- 
ceived an  autograph  note  from  the  Emperor,  authorizing  him 
to  draw  on  "  Baring  Brothers,"  of  London,  for  the  cost  of 


jyO  BESSEMER    STEEL. 

manufacturing  projectiles,  but  leaving  him   to    fill    in    any 
amount. 

A  good  many  projectiles  were  made  and  sent  to  Vincennes 
for  trial.  Two  days  before  Christmas,  when  the  ground  was 
covered  with  six  inches  of  snow,  several  thirty-pounder  pro- 
jectiles were  fired  through  ten  boarded  targets  standing  in  a 
straight  line,  each  target  being  about  one  hundred  yards  dis- 
tant from  the  other.  In  this  way  it  was  shown  by  the  circular 
holes  made  in  these  targets  that  the  plan  of  the  inventor  im- 
parted sufficient  rotation  to  his  elongated  projectiles  which 
generally  passed  through  seven  of  the  targets.  A  mechanical 
device  was  also  affixed  to  the  mouth  of  the  gun  to  show  the 
precise  amount  of  rotation  by  marking  the  projectiles,  and 
several  shots  recovered  from  the  snow  indicated  from  one 
and  a  half  to  two  and  a  quarter  rotations  in  passing  through 
the  length  of  the  gun,  being  a  greater  twist  than  that  pro- 
duced by  the  ordinary  system  of  rifling. 

These  promising  results  were  considered  satisfactory  by 
the  French  authorities,  and  they  fully  justified  the  anticipa- 
tions of  their  designer,  but  just  at  the  moment  when  success 
appeared  to  be  on  the  point  of  crowning  his  labors  an  inci- 
dent occurred  that  changed  the  whole  course  of  his  future 
life,  that  materially  affected  the  industrial  progress  of  the 
world,  and  afforded  another  illustration  of  the  saying,  "  What 
great  events  from  little  causes  spring." 

It  is  but  rarely  that  we  can  lay  hold  with  certainty  of  the 
thread  by  which  genius  has  been  guided  in  its  first  discove- 
ries. This  desideratum,  however,  is  not  wanting  in  the  case 
of  the  great  invention  that  revolutionized  the  steel  trade. 
When  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  had  shown  to  the  French  military 
authorities  the  result  of  his  system  of  firing  elongated  pro- 


BESSEMER   STEEL. 

jectiles  from  a  light  cast-iron  smooth-bore  gun,  Commander 
Minie,  who  superintended  the  trials,  remarked  to  him,  "  The 
shots  rotate  properly,  but  if  you  cannot  get  stronger  metal 
for  your  guns  such  heavy  projectiles  will  be  of  little  use."  It 
was  this  observation  that  first  led  Sir  Henry  to  think  of  the 
possibility  of  improving  the  manufacture  of  iron.  It  sug- 
gested to  him  a  new  field  of  invention,  and  he  instantly 
determined 

"  To  brave  the  perils  that  surely  environ 
The  man  who  dabbles  in  cast-iron." 

In  reporting  the  results  of  his  artillery  experiments  to  the 
Emperor  he  intimated  his  intention  of  extending  his  re- 
searches to  the  kind  of  metal  most  suitable  for  artillery 
purposes.  Napoleon  gave  every  encouragement  to  this  new 
project,  and  requested  that  the  results  might  be  communi- 
cated to  him. 

"  When  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  determined  to  make  improve- 
ments in  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  he  had  not  the 
least  idea  of  how  he  was  going  to  do  it.  Both  the  rudiments 
and  the  history  of  metallurgy  were  unknown  to  him,  and,  at 
first  sight  no  subject  could  appear  less  inviting.  The  pro- 
cess then  in  use  for  making  steel  had  been  practiced  for 
nearly  a  century  without  any  improvement,  and  the  history 
of  its  invention  was  by  no  means  encouraging. 

"  An  honest  and  skillful  clockmaker  named  Huntsman 
who  lived  at  Doncaster  in  1738  was  so  annoyed  at  the  de- 
fective nature  of  the  watch  springs  then  used  in  his  trade  that 
he  began  to  make  experiments  with  the  view  of  producing 
a  better  quality  of  steel.  Little  is  known  of  his  experiments, 
for  he  kept  them  strictly  secret.  After  long-continued  efforts 
and  many  failures  he  did  succeed  in  his  aim,  and  the  process 


j^2  BESSEMER    STEEL. 

which  he  then  invented  was  the  only  one  in  use  for  the  next 
hundred  years.  Until  then  the  finest  steel  was  made  by  the 
Hindoos,  and  the  price  of  it,  previous  to  Huntsman's  inven- 
tion, was  ten  thousand  pounds  a  ton. 

"  Huntsman  kept  his  valuable  invention  a  secret  for  many 
years.  The  Sheffield  manufacturers  multiplied  their  efforts 
to  fathom  the  secret  which  had  been  so  well  kept. 

"  In  the  dismal  darkness  and  bitter  cold  of  a  winter's  night 
a  beggar  knocked  at  the  entrance  to  Huntsman's  works. 
The  snow  was  falling  heavily  and  all  outside  was  gloom  and 
darkness.  The  shivering  beggar  asked  for  shelter.  The 
workmen  instantly  assented  and  assigned  him  a  warm  corner 
of  the  building  where  he  soon  fell  asleep.  But  it  was  a  cat's 
sleep,  for,  while  the  unsuspecting  workmen  proceeded  with 
their  work,  the  sleeping  beggar  '  eyed '  them  and,  as  the 
process  lasted  several  hours  he  continued  his  feigned  sleep. 
It  afterward  transpired  that  the  sleeping  beggar  was  an  iron- 
founder  of  Sheffield,  and  the  success  of  his  stratagem  was 
attested  by  the  erection  of  a  steel  works  similar  to  Hunts- 
man's. 

"  It  was  this  system  of  manufacture  that  was  employed 
when  Sir  Henry  Bessemer's  attention  was  directed  to  metal- 
lurgy. 

"  The  iron  then  used  for  making  steel  was  mostly  imported 
from  Sweden,  Russia,  and  Spain. 

"  With  a  view  of  acquiring  practical  knowledge  of  the  sys- 
tem then  in  use  for  converting  ore  into  iron,  he  visited  the 
iron-working  districts  of  the  north,  and  upon  his  return  to 
London  arranged  for  the  use  of  a  factory  and  began  his 
experiments. 

"After  twelve  months  time  and  many  costly  experiments  he 


BESSEMER    STEEL. 


'73 


succeeded  in  producing  an  improved  quality  of  cast-iron, 
almost  as  white  as  steel,  and  tougher  and  stronger  than  the 
best  cast-iron  then  used.  Of  this  metal  he  cast  a  small 
model  gun  which  he  presented  to  the  Emperor  of  France. 
The  comments  of  the  great  French  leader  encouraged  Sir 
Henry  to  continue  his  experiments  until  he  had  extended 
their  scope  from  the  production  of  refined  iron  to  that  of 
steel." 

The  labor  and  anxiety  entailed  by  these  experiments 
brought  on  a  short  but  severe  illness,  and  while  he  was  lying 
in  bed  pondering  on  the  prospects  of  succeeding  in  another 
experiment  with  the  pipes  and  pots,  it  occurred  to  him  that 
difficulty  might  be  got  over  by  introducing  air  into  a  large 
vessel  from  below  into  the  molten  mass  within. 

Though  he  entertained  grave  doubts  as  to  the  practica- 
bility of  carrying  out  this  idea,  he  determined  to  put  it  to  a 
working  test,  and,  on  recovering  health,  immediately  began 
to  design  apparatus  for  this  purpose.  He  constructed  a  cir- 
cular vessel,  measuring  three  feet  in  diameter  and'  five  feet 
in  height,  and  capable  of  holding  seven  hundred- weight  of 
iron.  He  next  ordered  a  small  powerful  air-engine  and  a 
quantity  of  crude  iron  to  be  put  down  on  the  premises.  The 
name  of  these  premises  was  Baxter  House,  formerly  the  resi- 
dence of  old  Richard  Baxter,  and  the  simple  experiment  here 
described  has  made  that  house  forever  famous. 

The  primitive  apparatus  being  ready,  the  engine  was  made 
to  force  streams  of  air  under  high  pressure,  through  the  bot- 
tom of  the  vessel,  which  was  lined  with  fire-clay,  and  the 
stoker  was  told  to  pour  the  metal,  when  it  was  sufficiently 
melted,  in  at  the  top  of  it.  A  cast-iron  plate — one  of  those 
lids  which  commonly  cover  the  coal-holes  in  the  pavement — 


j~,  BESSEMER    STEEL. 

was  hung  over  the  converter,  and  all  being  got  ready,  the 
stoker  in  some  bewilderment  poured  in  the  metal.  Instantly 
out  came  a  volcanic  eruption  of  such  dazzling  corruscations 
as  had  never  been  seen  before.  The  dangling  pot-lid  dis- 
solved in  the  gleaming  volume  of  flame,  and  the  chain  by 
which  it  hung  grew  red  and  then  white  as  the  various  stages 
of  the  process  were  unfolded  to  the  gaze  of  the  wondering 
spectators.  The  air-cock,  to  regulate  the  blast,  was  beside 
the  converting  vessel,  and  no  one  dared  go  near  it,  much  less 
to  deliberately  shut  it  In  this  dilemma,  however,  they  were 
soon  delivered,  by  finding  that  the  process  of  decarburization 
or  combustion  had  expended  all  its  fury,  and,  most  wonder- 
ful of  all,  the  result  was  steel.  The  new  metal  was  tried. 
Its  quality  was  good.  The  problem  was  solved.  The  inventor 
was  elated. 

The  result  of  this  first  experiment  showed  that  the  highest 
temperature  ever  known  in  the  arts  could  be  produced  by  the 
simple  introduction  of  atmospheric  air  into  cast-iron.  After 
many  experiments  had  been  made  and  large  sums  of  money 
expended,  Sir  Henry  became  anxious  for  other  opinion  on 
the  process,  accordingly  he  invited  Mr.  George  Rennie  to  in- 
spect the  work.  On  seeing  the  result  of  a  "  blow "  in  the 
converter,  Mr.  Rennie  said:  "This  must  not  be  hid  under  a 
bushel.  The  British  Association  meets  next  week ;  if  you 
have  patented  your  invention,  draw  up  an  account  of  it  in  a 
paper  and  have  it  read." 

Acting  under  this  suggestion,  Sir  Henry  wrote  a  descrip- 
tion of  his  new  invention,  entitling  it,  "  The  Manufacture  of 
Malleable  Iron  and  Steel  without  Fuel."  This  was  the  first 
public  announcement  of  the  Bessemer  process,  made  August 
nth,  1856. 


BESSEMER    STEEL.  I  75 

The  new  process  having  been  successfully  tested  by  vari- 
ous iron  manufacturers  throughout  the  kingdom,  large  sums 
of  money,  varying  from  ten  thousand  to  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  were  offered  for  the  patent,  all  of  which  Sir  Henry 
declined.  He  desired  an  annual  income  from  his  invention, 
and  with  that  plan  in  view  arranged  to  receive  so  much  per 
year  from  each  firm  using  his  process,  the  amount  to  be  pro- 
portionate to  the  quantity  of  steel  manufactured. 

The  Dowlais  Iron  Company  were  the  first  to  take  a  license, 
and  it  was  arranged  that  Sir  Henry  should  advise  them  as  to 
the  details  of  working  the  process. 

The  manager  of  the  works  said :  "  We  have  seventeen  fur- 
naces in  blast,  and  I  will  tell  you  the  burden  of  each  of  them, 
you  can  select  your  furnace,  and  if  it  is  possible  to  put  up 
your  apparatus  before  it,  we  will  do  so."  Sir  Henry  replied : 
"  It  does  not  matter  where  you  put  up  my  apparatus,  it  will 
work  any  kind  of  iron."  At  that  time  the  furnace  where  they 
put  up  the  converter  was  making  iron  for  common  rails.  This 
iron,  in  its  fluid  state,  was  then  run  direct  from  the  furnace 
into  the  converter,  where  it  blazed,  sparkled,  bubbled,  and 
showed  all  the  beautiful  phenomena  of  the  process.  The 
whole  operation  looked  very  satisfactory ;  but  when  they 
came  to  work  the  metal  produced,  they  were  surprised  to  find 
it  utterly  useless  for  any  purpose.  This  appeared  inexplica- 
ble, so  the  experiments  were  repeated,  but  the  success  of  the 
first  rude  experiment  was  never  equaled,  and  Sir  Henry  left 
Dowlais  with  serious  apprehensions  as  to  the  success  of  his 
invention. 

The  bright  prospect  which  the  first  announcement  of  the 
process  raised  was  now  overcast,  and  was  eventually  followed 
by  a  general  gloom.  An  invention  which  at  first  was  received 


j^5  BESSEMER    STEEL. 

with  a  shout  of  triumph,  was  two  months  afterward  declared 
to  be  impracticable. 

Then  followed  months  of  incessant  thought  and  labor,  and 
of  experiments  to  overcome  the  new  difficulty. 

At  the  expiration  of  about  three  years  Sir  Henry  was  fully 
satisfied  that  he  had  overcome  the  trouble  attending  the  con- 
tinued success  of  his  new  process. 

His  next  task  was  to  convince  the  public  that  an  invention 
which  for  two  or  three  years  had  been  entombed  in  the  ob- 
livion of  demonstrated  failure  was  now  a  complete  success. 
To  do  this  required  both  skill  and  courage.  The  incredulity 
with  which  great  discoveries  have  almost  invariably  been  re- 
ceived by  the  public,  when  viewed  through  the  perspective 
of  subsequent  events,  forms  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
chapters  of  human  history.  In  every  age  there  are  people 
who  think  themselves  interested  in  maintaining  the  existing 
state  of  things.  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  knew  this  only  too  well. 
Having  succeeded  in  producing  steel  by  his  process,  he  wished 
to  demonstrate  its  properties  by  actual  use.  With  this  in  view 
he  asked  his  friend,  Mr.  Galloway,  of  Manchester,  to  distribute 
the  new  metal  among  his  workmen  when  they  asked  for  steel 
to  make  tools  with,  but  not  to  let  them  know  that  it  was  in  any 
way  different  from  what  they  had  been  accustomed  to  use.  This 
was  done,  and  in  six  weeks  Sir  Henry  returned  to  Manchester 
to  hear  the  result.  "What  do  the  workmen  say  about  the  new 
steel  ?"  inquired  the  anxious  inventor.  "  They  have  said 
nothing  at  all  about  it,"  replied  Mr.  Galloway.  "  Nothing  at 
all.  Oh  !  then  it  will  be  all  right ;  that  they  have  no  fault  to 
find  with  it  is  the  best  report  of  any."  Sir  Henry  went  among 
the  workmen,  and  asked  what  they  thought  of  the  steel  they 
had  last  used.  "  There's  no  difference  between  it  and  other 


BESSEMER    STEEL.  1/7 

steel — -it's  no  better  than  we  always  get."  Such  a  recom- 
mendation was  sufficient.  The  steel  formerly  cost  sixty  pounds 
per  ton.  This  new  steel  cost  six  or  eight  pounds  a  ton. 

After  many  difficulties  the  new  process  began  to  make 
progress.  Its  superiority  in  respect  of  rapidity  and  cheapness 
over  the  old  process  was  spreading  consternation  in  the  steel 
trade.  One  manufacturer  after  another  applied  for  license  to 
use  it.  Others  endeavored  to  secure  its  advantages  by  other 
means. 

One  day  Sir  Henry  found  a  London  gentleman  occupied  in 
his  office  with  a  packet  of  papers  a  foot  high,  getting  out  all 
the  cases  he  could  against  him  for  repealing  by  scire  facias 
the  whole  of  his  patents.  He  was  employed  by  a  company 
of  iron-masters  to  do  so,  and  said  afterward :  "  When  I  had 
gone  through  the  whole  of  Sir  Henry  patents  and  about 
seventy  others  which  they  said  anticipated  his,  I  found  that 
they  had  not  a  leg  to  stand  upon,  and  I  advised  them  to  apply 
to  him  for  a  license." 

Sir  Henry,  in  giving  an  account  of  the  process  and  its  re- 
sults to  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  in  August, 
1861,  said: 

"  For  the  practical  engineer  enough  has  already  been  said 
to  show  how  important  is  the  application  of  cast-iron  to  con- 
structive purposes,  and  how  this  valuable  material  may  be 
both  cast  and  forged  with  such  facility  as  to  produce  by  its 
superior  durability  and  extreme  lightness  an  economy  in  its 
use,  as  compared  with  iron.  The  construction  of  cast-steel 
girders  and  bridges,  of  marine  engine-shafts,  cranks,  screws, 
propellers,  anchors,  and  railway  wheels  are  all  deserving  of 
careful  attention.  The  manufacturer  of  cast-steel  has  only  to 
produce  the  various  qualities  of  steel  required  for  constructive 


78 


BESSEMER    STEEL. 


purposes  to  insure  its  rapid  introduction  ;  for  as  certainly  as 
the  age  of  iron  superseded  that  of  bronze,  so  will  the  age  of 
steel  succeed  that  of  iron." 

Beside  taking  out  more  than  one  hundred  patents  Sir 
Henry  Bessemer  has  invented  many  wonderful  things  which 
he  has  never  patented,  such  as  government  stamps  of  paper, 
patterns  for  figured  velvet,  a  telescope  and  so  on  through  a 
long  list  of  useful  and  ornamental  articles,  by  which  the 
versatility  of  his  genius  was  clearly  exemplified  and  much 
admired. 

Honor  and  distinction  are  his  inalienable  rights.  A  multi- 
plicity of  medals,  titles,  and  degrees  from  every  quarter  of 
the  globe  attest  the  great  esteem  of  his  fellow-men. 

The  Bessemer  telescope  stands  on  the  Bessemer  estate, 
which  is  some  thirty  or  forty  acres  in  extent,  and  is  on  the 
slope  of  a  hill  looking  toward  the  Crystal  Palace. 

The  same  genius  that  stamps  the  highest  type  of  mechan- 
ical and  practical  science  is  shown  in  the  artistic  arrangement 
of  the  grounds  surrounding  and  adjacent  to  Sir  Henry's 
beantiful  residence.  What  nature  has  begun  art  has  ex- 
tended. No  more  beautiful  landscape  can  be  imagined  than 
the  reality  of  Bessemer  estate  on  Denmark  Hill,  near  London. 


BENJAMIN  WEST. 


PAINTING. 

ONE  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  Springfield,  a  Quaker 
village,    slumbered    peacefully   among    the    hills  oft 
Southern  Pennsylvania.     Life  flowed  there  in  a  slug- 
gish stream.     The  morning  stillness  was  unbroken/ 
by  the  rumble  of  loaded  trains  or  the  shrill  whistle  of 
imperious  steam.     The  serenity  of  evening  was  not  startled 
by  the   click   of  the   telegraph,  with  its    swift   messages   of 
revolution    and   rebellion,    of  disaster   and  death.      To  the-, 
east,  softly  undulating  hills   shut  out  the  horizon.     To  the- 
west    stretched   an  unbroken    forest  of   a  thousand    acres,., 
in   which   roamed   wild  and  ferocious    beasts    and    the    un- 
tamed and   half-naked    savage.       The   sturdy  musket  was- 
the  sure  accompaniment  of  all  whom  inclination  or  necessity" 
impelled  into  the  heart  of  this  sombre  wood.     Simple,  quiet^ 
stagnant  the  village   lay  on   the  borders  of  this  wood  like- 
some  silent  inland  lake  dreaming  of  its  own  unruffled  beauty. . 
The  primitive  and  simple  lives  of  the  Quakers,  and  their - 
slow,  plodding  habits  of  methodical  industry  was  the  peace-- 
ful    accompaniment   of  the    scene.     Each   man    with   grave.- 
humility  performed  his  task,  storing  yearly  "his little  dues  o£T 
wine  and  wheat  and  oil." 

"  His  best  companions  innocence  and  health, 
And  his  best  riches  ignorance  of  wealth." 

179' 


!  g0  PAINTING. 

In  this  rude  -and  simple  village  genius  was  pleased  to 
cradle  her  offspring.  She.  gave  him  the  unbroken  solitude 
of  the  forest,  the  placid  and  peaceful  faces  of  the  Quakers 
and  the  sombre  and  sunless  background  of  their  lives  to  im- 
press their  solemn  pictures  on  his  mind.  She  called  him 
from  among  these  staid  and  solemn  children,  and  said,  "  Go 
interpret  to  the  human,  the  divine."  How  he  answered  her 
call,  and  struggled  to  fulfill  his  trust,  let  those  tell  who  have 
stood  before  the  canvases  of  "  Christ  Rejected  "  and  "  Death 
on  a  Pale  Horse."  The  author  of  these  paintings,  Benjamin 
West,  the  favorite  of  fortune  and  the  petted  protege  of  no- 
bility, made  the  first  plaintive  cry  that  betokened  his  exist- 
ence in  this  primitive  Quaker  village  of  Springfield. 

His  English  forefathers,  the  Wests  of  Long  Crendon,  em- 
bracing among  their  number  Col.  James  West,  the  friend  of 
John  Hampden,  traced  their  lineage  back  to  Lord  Delaware. 
The  descendants  of  this  war-loving  nobleman  forever  sealed 
the  covenant  of  peace,  in  1667,  by  embracing  the  tenets  of 
the  Quakers.  America,  with  its  broad,  unoccupied  prairies, 
its  soil  yielding  abundant  harvests,  its  favored  climate,  and 
the  varied  character  of  its  products  was  drawing  a  steady 
stream  of  emigration  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New.  Borne 
on  its  tide,  these  Wests  of  Crendon  found  a  resting-place  in 
Springfield,  and  there  set  up  their  household  gods.  John 
West,  one  of  the  many  offshoots  of  this  parent  stem,  after  a 
quick  courtship,  was  married  to  Sarah  Pearson,  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends,  whose  grandfather  had  been  the  trusted 
companion  of  the  honored  Penn.  The  sole  dowry  which,  we 
;are  told,  came  to  her  husband  through  this  marriage  was  a 
negro  slave,  a  faithful  and  humble  servant.  John  West, 
however,  in  his  trade  with  the  Barbadoes,  having  been  an 


PAINTING.  jgj 

involuntary  witness  to  the  cruelties  that  were  practiced  upon 
these  degraded  and  unhappy  wretches,  determined  to  set  at 
liberty  his  bondsman.  Struck  by  the  generosity  of  this  act, 
involving  as  it  did  so  great  a  personal  sacrifice  on  the  part 
of  West,  the  Quakers  at  once  adopted  it  as  a  tenet  of  their 
faith  "  that  no  person  could  remain  a  member  of  their  com- 
munity who  held  a  human  creature  in  slavery."  So  this 
one  good  act  received  an  everlasting  memorial. 

Whether  or  not,  by  this  noble  act,  John  West  secured  to 
himself  the  perpetual  sunshine  of  Divine  favor,  we  cannot 
tell ;  but  it  is  certain  he  found  himself  heir  to  those  blessings 
that  the  "  sweet  singer  of  Israel  "  tells  us  belong  to  the  right- 
eous. Ten  olive  plants  bloomed  about  his  table.  On  the 
eve  of  the  birth  of  the  tenth,  his  wife  attended  a  meeting  in 
the  fields  and  listened  to  a  sermon  so  full  of  frightful  pictures, 
and  so  penetrated  with  wails  of  despair  that  she  became 
dangerously  ill  from  mental  excitement  and  agitation.  The 
ebbing  tide  of  life  only  began  to  turn  and  flow  slowly  back 
to  the  poor,  terror-stricken  woman  when  her  baby  was  placed 
in  her  arms.  This  baby  was  Benjamin,  born  October  loth, 
1 738.  The  preacher,  who  had  sent  such  arrows  of  danger, 
mingled  with  his  arrows  of  conviction,  on  hearing  of  the 
event,  at  one  predicted  for  the  child,  "born  under  such  pecu- 
liar circumstances,"  a  wonderful  career.  How  far  this 
prophecy,  believed  in  by  the  credulous  Quaker,  influenced 
him  in  after  years,  it  is  difficult  to  compute.  At  any  rate,  he 
and  his  wife  tended  this  latest  olive  plant  during  the  years  of 
childhood  with  loving  and  expectant  care,  looking  for  the 
blooms  and  fruit  propitious  augury  had  foretold.  After  seven 
years,  they  found  the  first  tender  swelling  of  the  bud  of 
genius  that  afterward  flowered  and  attained  its  full  fruition 


PAINTING. 

when  those  loving  and  gentle  hands  had  been  crossed  in 
everlasting  repose. 

At  seven,  that  happiest  year  of  happy  childhood,  little 
Benjamin  was  playing  in  the  garden,  where  his  mother  and 
eldest  sister  were  gathering  flowers.  This  sister  had  been 
some  time  married,  and  was  enamored  of  the  sweets  of  a  little 
human  flower  that  had  sprung  up  at  her  side.  This  drowsy 
little  flower,  having  shut  its  eyes  in  sleep,  Benjamin  was  sent 
to  watch  by  its  cradle  during  the  absence  of  maternal  care. 
Guarding  the  sleep  of  infancy,  his  eyes  lingered  with  tender 
admiration  upon  this  young  thing,  so  fresh  from  the  hands  of 
God,  its  softly  traced  contour,  its  cheeks  of  mingled  rose  and 
pearl,  its  curving,  crimson  lips,  its  brow  as  white  as  innocence 
itself.  A  smile,  the  reflex  of  some  happy  dream,  dimpled 
about  the  baby's  mouth.  Infatuated,  inspired,  this  childish 
watcher  caught  the  evanescent  beauty  of  a  baby's  smile  and 
placed  it  beyond  the  power  of  escape.  On  the  return  of 
mother  and  sister  they  found  him  absorbed  in  the  contem- 
plation of  the  baby's  picture  done  in  red  and  black  ink  on 
common  paper.  The  swift  intuition  of  mother  love  divined 
in  this  the  foreshadowings  of  something  yet  to  be.  The 
father,  for  whose  inspection  the  little  picture  was  carefully 
preserved,  affirmed  that  this  was  but  the  unfoldings  of  the 
prophecies  at  his  birth. 

Later  on  his  drawings  of  birds  and  fruits  and  flowers  won 
admiration  from  the  tribes  of  Cherokee  Indians  about  him, 
and  they  taught  him  the  composition  and  preparation  of  the 
red  and  yellow  dies  with  which  they  stained  their  arrows. 
These,  with  the  indigo  of  domestic  use,  supplied  him  with  the 
three  primary  colors.  Here  were  the  colors  and  there  the 
\paper,  and  designs  and  impressions  were  in  his  mind,  but  the 


PAINTING. 


1 83 


source  of  mystery  to  him  now  was  the  mode  of  application 
of  the  colors  to  the  paper.  Some  neighbor  had  it  from 
tradition  that  painters  used  brushes  made  of  camel's  hair. 
Camels,  he  was  told,  were  to  be  found  in  the  far  East,  and 
here  he  was  on  the  limits  of  the  known  West.  His  inge- 
nuity had  recourse  to  the  cat,  and  he  secretly  divested  poor 
Tabby  of  almost  all  of  her  fur.  This  nudity  of  the  cat  was 
attributed  to  disease  by  the  other  members  of  the  family  till 
Benjamin  tremblingly  confessed  his  crime — a  crime  most 
readily  condoned  when  its  motive  was  also  confessed. 

A  Mr.  Pennington,  a  relative  of  the  family,  hearing  of  this 
escapade,  made  this  youthful  defrauder  of  the  fur  of  cats  a 
present  of  a  box  of  paints  and  six  engravings  by  Grevling. 
To  gloat  on  his  unexpected  treasures  and  to  preserve  them 
from  the  touch  of  vandal  hands  Benjamin  stored  his  pictures 
and  paints  in  the  garret.  He  was  now  nearly  nine  and 
attended  the  village  school,  but  so  strong  was  the  enchantment 
of  this  new  and  divine  love  that  thoughts  of  duty  were  for- 
gotten. Secretly  and  incessantly  he  labored  for  days,  shut- 
ting himself  up  in  the  garret,  peopled  to  his  excited  fancy 
with  such  exquisite  possibilities.  The  school-master  com- 
plained to  the  mother  of  the  aberrations  of  her  boy.  Climb- 
ing to  the  garret,  on  thoughts  of  punishment  intent,  she 
beheld  her  son  in  silent  contemplation  of  his  work.  He  had 
made,  not  a  copy  of  the  several  engravings,  but  by  grouping 
and  blending  had  wrought  a  new  design  and  told  a  new 
story.  This  picture  hangs  by  the  side  of  "  Christ  Rejected/' 
on  the  walls  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  years  afterward, 
when  West  was  a  famous  painter,  he  acknowledged  "  there 
were  touches  of  art  in  it  that  he  had  never  been  able  to  sur- 
pass." 


184  PAINTING. 

When  nine  years  old  Benjamin  went  with  his  relative  and 
patron,  Pennington,  to  Philadelphia,  and  made  a  picture  from 
nature  of  the  banks  and  winding  water  of  the  river.  Mr. 
Williams,  an  artist  in  the  neighborhood,  was  struck  by  the 
quality  of  such  work  from  childish  hands  and  invited  Benja- 
min to  his  studio.  The  effect  upon  his  emotional  nature  was 
instantaneous  and  he  burst  into  tears. 

"What  books  do  you  read?"  asked  Mr.  Williams.  "You 
ought  to  read  the  lives  of  great  men." 

"I  read  the  Bible,"  answered  the  young  Quaker.  "I 
know  the  lives  of  Adam  and  Joseph,  of  Moses,  of  David, 
of  Solomon  and  the  Apostles."  In  such  sublime  words  did 
he  show  the  clear  conceptions  of  his  faith.  He  returned 
from  this  trip  with  the  settled  determination  to  be  an 
artist. 

At  school  Benjamin  did  not  apply  himself  to  his  books 
with  that  ardor  and  method  which  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge requires.  We  are  told  that  he  managed  to  pass  in  all 
his  studies  except  arithmetic.  The  science  of  numbers  was 
too  absolute  to  accept  any  compromise,  and  West  had  to 
resort  to  ingenuity  to  evade  punishment.  This  he  did  by 
securing  the  services  of  some  more  plodding  intellect,  and  in 
return  he  drew  for  the  boy  who  worked  his  sums  pictures  of 
birds  and  leaves. 

One  half-holiday  West  was  invited  by  a  school-fellow  to 
take  a  ride  with  him.  The  inviter  was  in  the  saddle,  and 
there  being  but  one  horse,  the  invited  must  needs  ride  be- 
hind. "  I  do  not  ride  behind  any  one,"  was  West's  reply  to 
the  invitation.  The  good-natured  school-boy  instantly 
relinquished  the  seat  of  honor  to  this  spoiled  child,  and  the 
two  proceeded  in  good  spirits. 


PAINTING.  185 

"This  is  my  last  ride  for  a  long  time,"  said  the  owner  of 
the  horse,  "  to-morrow  I  am  to  be  apprenticed  to  a  tailor." 

"  Surely  you  will  never  be  a  tailor,"  answered  Benjamin, 
with  disgust.  "  I  intend  to  be  a  painter." 

"  A  painter !  What  sort  of  a  trade  is  that  ?  I  never  heard 
of  it  before,"  said  the  embryo  tailor. 

"  A  painter  is  the  companion  of  kings  and  emperors,"  and 
with  this  he  leaped  from  the  horse,  adding,  "  I  will  not  ride 
with  one  willing  to  be  a  tailor."  This  is  the  first  indication 
we  have  that  the  spoiling  and  petting  was  beginning  to  affect 
the  simplicity  of  the  gifted  child.  True  genius  chooses 
irrevocably  its  calling;  if  it  brings  the  companionship  of 
kings  and  emperors,  it  is  but  a  happy  and  incidental  thing ; 
if  it  secures  but  the  lonely  hermitage  of  the  garret — ah ! 
Well,  it  is  fate,  it  is  unavoidable  and  invincible ! 

A  Mr.  Flower,  a  Justice  of  Peace  in  the  adjoining  village 
of  Chester,  hearing  of  the  talented  boy,  invited  him  to  his 
house.  He  had  secured  the  services  of  an  English  lady  as 
governess  for  his  own  children.  This  accomplished  woman 
was  so  pleased  with  the  bright  and  attractive  boy  that  she 
read  to  him  from  the  original  Greek  and  Latin  stories  of  by- 
gone poets,  philosophers,  painters,  and  historians.  To  one 
who  had  never  before  heard  of  Greece  or  Rome  this  was  a 
new  and  sparkling  fountain,  and  he  drank  deep  draughts 
with  that  intensity  of  pleasure  that  comes  only  from  long- 
continued  thirst. 

From  Chester  he  went  to  Lancaster  at  the  request  of  a 
Mr.  Ross  to  paint  the  portrait  of  his  young  and  beautiful 
wife.  This  gave  him  considerable  notoriety  among  the 
citizens  of  Lancaster.  A  gunsmith  who,  while  he  worked  his 
forge,  had  also  cultivated  the  classics,  proposed  to  the  young 


PAINTING. 

artist  to  take  the  death  of  Socrates  as  a  subject.  West  had 
just  been  listening  to  the  story  of  the  life  of  Socrates  and 
his  heroic  death  as  related  by  the  English  governess,  and  his 
imagination  quickly  acted  on  the  hint  of  the  gunsmith.  The 
figure  of  Socrates  he  completed  to  his  satisfaction,  but  when 
he  came  to  the  slave  handing  the  poison — "  The  slave  ought, 
I  think,  to  be  naked,"  going,  in  his  dilemma,  to  his  friend  of 
the  forge,  "and  I  have  always  painted  men  clothed."  The 
gunsmith  returned  to  his  forge  and  presently  brought  out 
one  of  his  workmen,  half-nude  and  splendidly  formed,  saying 
"There  is  your  model."  West  introduced  him  with  his  bare 
limbs  into  the  picture.  So  early  as  this  did  he  show  that  his 
conceptions  of  art  were  the  purest. 

West  had  now  been  roaming  about  so  long  indulging  his 
one  passion  that  at  the  age  of  fifteen  we  find  him  with  barely 
the  rudiments  of  an  education.  Dr.  Smith,  whose  kindly 
interest  in  the  boy  induced  him  to  undertake  the  part  of 
tutor,  with  mistaken  judgment  allowed  Benjamin  to  shirk 
hard  and  disagreeable  study  and  to  skim  through  the  classics, 
fastening  his  attention  only  to  those  incidents  likely  to 
inflame  his  imagination.  What  he  needed  most  was  severe 
and  methodical  study,  but  this  his  indulgent  tutor  and  more 
indulgent  parents  did  not  realize. 

There  was  now  a  serious  question  to  be  discussed  and 
answered.  One  of  the  peculiar  articles  of  faith  among  the 
Quakers  was  the  condemnation  of  the  art  of  painting  as  being 
an  agency  "  employed  to  embellish  life,  to  preserve  voluptu- 
ous images,  and  add  to  the  sensual  gratifications  of  man. " 
The  Wests  were  Quakers,  and  conformed  in  all  things  as  did 
the  others  to  the  strictures  of  their  sect.  The  question  as  to 
whether  Benjamin  might  follow  the  beckonings  of  his  genius 


PAINTING.  187 

was  submitted  to  the  Society  for  their  wise  consideration. 
Benjamin  was  ruled  out  while  these  deliberations  of  such  deep 
moment  to  him  were  held.  The  spirit  of  inspiration  came 
first  to  a  Mr.  Williamson.  "  God  has  bestowed  on  this  youth 
a  genius  for  art,"  he  said,  "  shall  we  question  His  wisdom  ?  I 
see  the  Divine  hand  in  this ;  we  shall  do  well  to  sanction 
the  art,  and  encourage  the  youth.  "  Like  a  wind  that  bends 
every  golden  wheat-head  down  in  assent  to  its  whispered 
love-tale,  the  same  spirit  moves  over  the  hearts  of  these 
Friends,  and  every  head  bowed  in  grave  consent  to  the  words 
that  had  been  spoken.  Benjamin  was  called  in,  and  Mr. 
Williamson  continued  his  address:  "We  have  classed  paint- 
ing among  vain  and  ornamental  things  and  excluded  it  from 
among  us.  But  this  is  not  the  principle,  but  the  misemploy- 
ment  of  painting.  In  wise  and  pure  hands  it  rises  in  the 
scale  of  moral  excellence,  and  displays  a  loftiness  of  sentiment 
worthy  the  contemplation  of  Christians.  God  hath  endowed 
this  youth  with  rich  gifts.  May  it  be  demonstrated  in  his  life 
and  works  that  the  gifts  of  God  have  not  been  bestowed  in 
vain,  nor  the  motives  of  the  beneficent  inspiration  which 
induces  us  to  suspend  the  strict  operation  of  our  tenets 
prove  barren  of  religious  or  moral  effect."  The  voice 
ceased.  One  man  arose  and  laid  his  hand  in  silent  benedic- 
tion upon  West's  head ;  another  followed,  till  all  the  men  had 
blessed  him,  and  then  the  women  consecrated  him,  each  by  a 
kiss,  to  his  work.  West  now  considered  himself  dedicated  to 
Art,  to  uphold  its  sanctity  and  purity. 

Shortly  after  this  young  West,  aged  about  eighteen,  re- 
leased from  the  strict  pressure  of  the  rules  of  the  Society,  and 
animated  by  some  impulse  bequeathed  by  his  warlike  ances- 
tors, enlisted  as  a  soldier  and  joined  an  expedition  that  went 


i8S 


PAINTING. 


in  search  of  the  relics  of  General  Braddock's  army.  With 
these  was  Major  Sir  Peter  Halket,  whose  deep  personal  in- 
terest in  the  expedition  centered  in  the  discovery  of  the  re- 
mains of  his  father  and  brother.  Many  months  had  elapsed 
since  the  battle,  but  the  Indian  guide  assured  Sir  Peter  he  had 
seen  an  elderly  officer  drop  dead,  and  a  young  subaltern  who 
ran  to  his  assistance,  fall  mortally  wounded  across  his  body. 
After  a  long  march  they  came  at  last  upon  the  "  valley  of 
death."  The  Indian  pointed  out  the  .exact  spot  of  the  awful 
tragedy  that  befell  father  and  son,  and  when  the  newly-fallen 
leaves  were  thrust  away,  there  they  lay,  one  skeleton  above 
the  other.  Long  afterward,  West  conceived  the  idea  of  em- 
bodying this  scene  in  a  picture,  containing  as  it  did  all  the 
elements  of  weird  and  tragic  grandeur.  The  ghastly  relics 
of  what  was  once  noble  and  brave,  the  stoical  faces  of  the 
Indians  .and  the  sympathetic  ones  of  the  whites  grouped 
about,  the  horror  that  struck  young  Halket  senseless — this  in 
its  sombre  setting  of  the  gloomy  wood,  had  powerfully 
moved  the  emotional  nature  of  young  West.  Had  he 
followed  his  own  inclination  and  painted  this  instead  of  pan- 
dering to  the  tastes  of  others,  it  would  doubtless  have  been 
one  of  his  best  efforts  and  a  worthy  companion  piece  to  the 
"  Death  of  Wolfe,"  since  we  can  always  depict  best  that  which 
we  have  personally  and  strongly  felt. 

Tragedy  was  awaiting  him  elsewhere,  the  tragedy  of  death 
in  his  humble  Quaker  home.  A  messenger  brought  him 
news  that  his  mother  was  dangerously  ill,  and  having 
hastened  home,  her  sweet  spirit  smiled  upon  her  favorite  son, 
then  she  could  not  speak,  and  was  gone.  He  soon  abandoned 
the  home  thus  deprived  of  its  presiding  genius,  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  Philadelphia  as  a  portrait-painter.  His 


PAINTING.  jg 

prices  he  kept  at  a  small  figure,  two  and  a  half  guineas  a 
head,  and  this  money  he  carefully  saved.  From  Philadelphia 
he  went  to  New  York,  doubled  his  price  and  hoarded  as 
carefully  as  before,  hoping  to  acquire  by  industry  and 
economy  a  sum  sufficient  to  take  him  abroad  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  art-studies. 

From  this  point  in  his  story  West  stepped  into  the  full  sun- 
shine of  fortune.  A  letter  from  Philadelphia  informed  him 
that  a  cargo  of  corn  and  flour  was  to  be  sent  from  New  York 
to  Italy,  and  that  the  expedition  had  been  placed  in  charge  of 
one  of  the  Aliens  of  Philadelphia.  This  gentleman,  influenced 
by  Dr.  Smith,  West's  former  tutor,  offered  to  the  young  art 
student  a  passage  to  Leghorn.  From  Leghorn  to  Rome  was 
but  a  short  distance  and  Rome  was  the  home  of  art.  So 
elated  was  West  by  this  news  that  he  was  unable  to  bear  the 
happy  secret  alone,  and  so  confided  it  to  a  Mr.  Kelly,  who  was 
at  that  time  sitting  to  West  for  a  portrait.  This  gentleman 
congratulated  him  on  his  good  fortune,  paid  for  the  finished 
portrait,  and  gave  him  a  letter  to  hand  to  his  agents  in  Phila- 
delphia. West  on  arriving  in  Philadelphia  and  presenting 
the  letter  was  told  it  contained  an  order  for  fifty  guineas  from 
the  generous  Kelly,  "  to  aid  him  in  prosecuting  his  art 
studies!"  He  had  never  known  the  lack  of  money  in  his 
earliest  days,  and  his  star  of  fortune  was  still  ascending. 

He  was  now  twenty-two,  in  good  health,  with  plenty  of 
money,  and  on  the  eve  of  embarking  for  Italy,  the  goal  of  his 
fondest  dreams.  But  one  cloud  appeared  on  his  horizon,  and 
we  cannot  well  believe  this  cloud  overshadowed  him  to  any 
painful  extent,  since  his  was  a  cold,  unimpassioned  nature  in- 
capable of  intense  suffering.  Miss  Elizabeth  Shewell,  a  beau- 
tiful young  girl  of  Philadelphia,  had  become  enchanted  with 


PAINTING. 

the  young  artist,  and  in  return  for  her  tender  and  romantic 
love,  he  had  given  her  a  sort  of  passionless  regard,  which  she 
was  forced  to  accept  as  the  best  of  which  he  was  capable.  A 
formal  betrothal  had  taken  place.  The  brother  of  Miss 
Shewell  had  selected  another  of  her  suitors  for  her  accept- 
ance, whom  she  peremptorily  refused.  He  would  not  permit 
West  to  come  to  the  house,  and  so  much  was  he  afraid  some 
elopement  scheme  would  be  developed,  he  placed  Miss 
Shewell  in  close  confinement  in  her  own  room  under  lock  and 
key ;  nor  did  he  relax  his  vigilance  till  West  had  set  sail  for 
the  Old  World.  This  he  did,  leaving  his  sweetheart  in 
imprisonment. 

West  carried  his  good  fortunes  with  him  into  the  "  city  of 
dead  empires."  He  presented  his  letters  of  introduction  to 
some  of  the  leading  men,  and  he  soon  became  a  subject  of 
interest  and  curiosity  among  native  artists.  All  desired  to 
see  this  young  barbarian  from  the  wilds  of  the  mystical  land 
under  the  setting  sun.  Lord  Grantham,  the  first  to  bestow 
his  patronage,  invited  him  to  dinner  and  introduced  him  at 
an  evening  assembly  of  artists  and  people  of  distinction  in 
society.  The  Italians  crowded  about  him  with  ill-concealed 
curiosity,  but  the  grave  simplicity  of  the  manners  of  the 
young  Quaker  left  them  nothing  at  which  to  cavil.  These 
Romans  who  had  been  nurtured  in  the  lap  of  art,  for  whom 
the  Apollo  had  posed  his  graceful  form,  and  the  Venus  dis- 
played her  charms,  and  to  whom  the  works  of  Raphael  were 
more  familiar  than  common  wood-cuts  were  to  West,  turned 
out  en  masse  to  see  him,  dazzled  by  his  first  view  of  these 
immortal  and  inimitable  creations.  Thirty  equipages,  filled 
with  Rome's  choicest  leaders  in  society  and  art,  formed  the 
escort  of  this  young  and  unknown  American.  The  Apollo 


PAINTING. 

was  concealed  in  a  cabinet,  and  when  the  doors  were  thrown 
open — "  My  God  !  A  young  Mohawk  warrior  !"  exclaimed 
West.  Indignant  surprise  spread  from  face  to  face.  What ! 
had  this  young  savage  traveled  all  the  way  to  Rome  to  find  in 
this  grand  statue  but  a  copy  of  a  fellow-savage?  West, 
immediately  divining  the  light  in  which  he  stood,  hastened 
not  only  to  justify  his  criticism  but  to  convert  it  into  the 
highest  encomium  by  describing  the  freedom  and  elasticity  of 
the  movements  of  an  Indian  warrior,  his  length  of  limb  and 
breadth  of  chest,  his  perfect  symmetry,  and  statuesque  grace 
when  in  repose. 

Mengs  was  the  authority  on  art  at  that  time  in  Rome. 
West  knew  his  own  inability  to  produce  an  accurate  and 
finished  sketch,  and  was  ashamed  to  exhibit  his  inferior  draw- 
ings in  this  company  of  critics.  But  to  establish  his  claim 
to  be  considered  at  least  an  humble  member  of  the  brother- 
hood, he  persuaded  Lord  Grantham  to  sit  to  him  for  a  por- 
trait. The  scheme  was  kept  a  profound  secret,  and  the 
finished  picture  was  placed  in  the  gallery  of  Crespigni,  where 
it  was  sure  to  meet  inspection  and  criticism. 

"  It  is  Mengs  who  has  done  this,"  said  many ;  but  one, 
more  acute  than  the  others,  pronounced  the  coloring  better, 
but  the  drawing  inferior  to  that  of  Mengs. 

"There  is  no  painter  in  Rome  who  could  do  it  so  well," 
was  the  warm  reply. 

Crespigni  seized  an  auspicious  moment  when  the  interest 
was  at  its  height,  and  pointing  to  West,  nervous  and  anxious 
in  the  background,  said:  "There  is  the  artist,  gentlemen !" 
The  impulsive  Italians  embraced  him,  and  even  the  English 
present  cordially  shook  him  by  the  hand. 

This  strain  and  excitement  in  the  mind  of  West  reacted 


PAINTING. 

on  his  physical  nature,  and,  sick  and  exhausted,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  seek  his  lost  equilibrium  in  Leghorn.  Eleven 
"months  afterward  West,  with  the  warm  hues  of  health  once 
more  mantling  his  cheeks,  determined  to  visit  the  other 
centres  of  art,  Florence,  Bologna,  and  Venice.  One  serious 
impediment  intervened — the  money  with  which  he  had  begun 
his  career  in  art  had  dwindled  to  ten  pounds.  When  he 
went  to  his  agents  to  draw  this  his  good  genius  stepped 
between  him  and  the  least  shadow  of  anxiety  about  pecuniary 
matters  that  might  have  oppressed  him. 

"  I  am  instructed  to  give  you  unlimited  credit,"  said  the 
agent.  "  You  will  have  the  goodness  to  ask  for  what  sum 
you  please."  This  was  the  result  of  the  united  generosity 
of  Allen  and  Hamilton  in  Philadelphia. 

West  pursued  his  studies  with  a  lighter  heart  and  a  heavier 
purse.  To  him,  as  to  all  others,  the  works  of  Titian  were  a 
miracle  of  coloring.  For  days  he  sat  under  their  "lucid 
splendor,"  trying  to  solve  the  secret  of  the  old  Italian.  But 
if  the  dead  have  a  secret  they  hold  it.  As  often  as  West 
thought  to  put  his  hands  on  it,  so  often  did  it  evade  his 
grasp. 

After  prolonged  absence  and  study  he  returned  to  Rome 
and  remained  there  long  enough  to  give  to  us  his  first  his- 
torical paintings,  "  Cimon  and  Iphegenia,"  and  "  Angelica  and 
Medora." 

There  were  many  chords  drawing  him  toward  his  native 
land,  and  thither  he  resolved  to  return,  first  allowing  himself 
the  gratification  of  a  pleasure  tour  in  England,  the  home  of 
his  forefathers.  He  arrived  in  London  June  2Oth,  1763,  but 
his  good  genius  had  been  there  before  him  and  prepared 
everything  for  his  reception.  His  munificent  patrons,  Allen 


PAINTING. 


I9J 


and  Hamilton,  together  with  Smith,  happened  to  be  there,, 
and  extended  to  the  young  artist  the  warmest  welcome  and 
introduced  him  to  many  people  of  distinction.  He  was 
delightfully  entertained  at  Reading  by  his  half-uncle,  Thomas 
West.  He  looked  on  at  Vanity  Fair  at  Bath,  and  examined 
pleasurably  the  art  collections  at  Hampton  Court,  Windsor, 
and  Blenheim.  Reynolds  invited  him  to  his  studio,  and  to 
Wilson  he  had  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Mengs  at  Rome. 

West  was  a  shrewd  observer.  He  had  not  intended  any- 
thing more  than  a  pleasure  tour  in  coming  to  England,  but 
once  here  in  London  he  found  Reynolds  devoted  to  portaits,, 
Gainsborough  to  landscape,  Hogarth  dying,  Wilson  unable* 
to  command  attention,  and  Barry,  poor,  impetuous,  high- 
tempered  Barry,  quarreling  in  Rome.  Into  whose  hands 
should  historical  painting  fall — if  not  into  his  ?  Such  an 
opportunity  comes  but  once  in  a  lifetime.  Seizing  it,  West 
without  a  word  to  any  one,  took  chambers  in  Bedford  Street, 
and  set  up  his  easel. 

He  sent  his  two  historical  pictures,  painted  in  Rome,  with  a 
portrait  of  General  Monckton,  one  of  the  commanders  in  the 
battle  of  Quebec,  to  the  exhibition.  These  were  well  re- 
ceived, and  from  two  dignitaries  of  the  Church  he  obtained 
orders  for  pictures,  "The  Parting  of  Hector  and  Androm- 
ache" for  one,  and  "The  Return  of  the  Prodigal  Son  "  for 
the  other.  As  early  as  this  in  his  career  this  favorite  of  the 
gods  received  from  Lord  Rockingham  the  tempting  offer  of 
seven  hundred  pounds  a  year  to  adorn  his  Yorkshire  home 
with  historical  paintings.  This  he  wisely  refused,  acting  on 
the  advice  of  friends. 

West  had  now  fully  determined  to  remain  permanently  in 
London,  but  he  had  still  a  strong  motive  for  returning  tern- 


1 04  PAINTING. 

porarily  to  America.  His  engagement  with  Miss  Shewell 
had  remained  unbroken  through  all  these  years.  The  mor- 
bid opposition  of  her  brother  continued  as  invincible  as  ever, 
and  his  demands  for  her  marriage  with  the  man  selected  by 
himself  more  urgent  every  day.  Though  he  had  sworn 
West  should  never  see  his  sister,  frequent  letters  were  inter- 
changed by  the  betrothed.  In  these  it  had  been  agreed  that 
West  should  remain  in  London,  and  send  for  Miss  Shewell, 
and  she  in  obedience  to  his  summons  should  come  to 
London,  and  there  be  married.  The  summons  was  accord- 
ingly sent  in  the  summer  of  1765,  but  the  brother,  learning  of 
the  proposed  escape  of  his  sister  and  the  ship  on  which  she 
was  to  sail,  had  recourse  to  his  old  method,  and  placed  the 
romantic  girl  under  lock  and  key.  Still  holding  fast  to  her 
pledge  to  West,  she  submitted  to  this,  for  when  was  there 
ever  a  woman  unequal  to  the  hardships  imposed  by  love  ? 
While  she  was  enduring  this  for  her  absent  lover,  an  indig- 
nity to  her  womanhood,  he  was  painting  in  London  !  Things 
approached  a  crisis.  The  day  set  for  the  sailing  of  the  ship 
was  close  at  hand.  A  relative  of  Miss  Shewell's,  sympathiz- 
ing with  her  determination  to  go  to  West,  was  to  serve  as  her 
escort  to  London,  and  had  secured  passage  on  the  ship  for 
himself  and  her.  The  brother,  fearing  to  be  overpowered  or 
outwitted  at  the  last  moment,  invited  a  number  of  friends, 
young  gentlemen  of  the  vicinity,  to  help  him  keep  watch  dur- 
.ing  the  night  preceding  the  departure  of  the  vessel.  This 
was  to  sail  at  daybreak.  Miss  Shewell  was  tightly  locked  in 
her  room,  and  here  were  a  number  of  his  friends  to  aid  him 
by  resistance,  if  resistance  became  necessary.  But  Cupid 
was  laughing  at  his  bolts  and  bars,  and  was  as  busy  as  he  in 
•.securing  friends  to  aid  him.  Among  Shewell's  invited  guests 


PAINTING. 

were  three  friends,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Francis  Hopkins,  and 
White,  afterward  Bishop.  Before  night  fell,  there  had  been 
a  whispered  consultation  among  these  three,  talks  of  a  rope- 
ladder,  and  the  employment  of  an  emissary  to  climb  to  a  win- 
dow. The  ship  had  been  visited  and  the  officers  put  on  oath 
to  sail  as  soon  as  a  lady  had  been  placed  on  board.  This 
done,  they  repaired  with  others  to  Shewell's  house.  The  night 
of  watching  was  turned  into  a  night  of  revelry.  At  two  o'clock 
the  din  was  loudest.  Each  vied  with  the  other  in  telling  the  wit- 
tiest joke  and  singing  the  merriest  song.  Toward  day  they 
sobered  down  and  the  host,  having  fallen  into  a  short  doze, 
waked  to  find  morning  flinging  its  level  rays  into  his  face. 
Confident  of  his  success,  he  went  to  release  his  sister ;  for, 
the  ship  having  sailed,  there  was  now  no  longer  necessity  for 
imprisonment.  Opening  wide  the  door,  he  was  confronted  by 
emptiness  and  silence.  When  Miss  Shewell  arrived  in  Eng- 
land, we  are  told,  West  went  to  the  quay  to  meet  her !  How 
he  wounded  her  gentle  heart  by  his  coldness,  his  historian 
has  forborne  to  tell  us,  but  he  has  taken  the  pains  to  say  "  she 
was  a  faithful  and  obedient  wife  for  over  fifty  years,  and  their 
fireside  had  repose  and  peace."  If  he  had  loved  her  with  a 
more  absorbing  tenderness,  there  might  have  been  some 
storms  about  this  model  fireside  ;  but  after  the  storms  would 
have  come  those  delightful  clearings  and  delicious  calms 
holding  a  pleasure  more  intense  than  the  model  fireside  ever 
dreamed  of. 

Following  the  ever-increasing  good  fortunes  of  the  star 
of  his  destiny,  West  was  invited  to  dine  by  Dr.  Drummond, 
whose  love  for  art  was  only  equaled  by  his  love  for  the 
classics.  Calling  his  son,  the  formalities  of  the  table  being 
over,  he  bade  him  read  from  Tacitus  the  passage  descriptive 


196 


PAINTING. 


of  the  landing  of  Aggrapina  with  the  ashes  of  Germanicus. 
West  seized  the  idea,  and  before  he  closed  his  eyes  that 
night  had  sketched  the  scene.  Drummond  was  so  pleased 
that  he  initiated  a  movement  to  raise  a  subscription  for  West 
of  three  thousand  pounds  so  as  to  enable  him  to  devote 
his  entire  time  to  historical  painting.  He  and  his  friends 
headed  the  subscription  with  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  but  the 
rest  could  not  be  raised.  To  another  man  the  failure  of  this 
scheme  would  have  been  unfortunate,  but  to  West  disap- 
pointments were  but  blessings  in  disguise.  To  Archbishop 
Drummond  the  failure  of  his  plan  was  a  bitter  wound,  and  he 
determined  to  enlist  royalty  itself  in  its  behalf.  He  obtained 
audience  with  young  King  George,  bestowed  the  highest 
encomiums  on  the  picture  West  had  painted  for  him,  and 
suggested  that  his  talents  be  secured  for  the  throne  and  the 
country.  The  king  sent  for  West,  presented  him  to  the 
queen,  read  to  him  a  passage  from  Livy,  and  dismissed  him 
with  the  command  to  paint  for  him  "  The  Departure  of 
Regulus." 

It  was  while  he  was  engaged  on  this  picture  that  a  discus- 
sion arose  in  the  Society  of  Incorporated  Artists,  of  which 
West  was  a  member,  as  to  what  they  should  do  with  the 
funds  they  had  accumulated.  Several  plans  for  its  invest- 
ment were  submitted,  West  approving  of  none.  The  dis- 
cussion growing  warm,  West,  with  Reynolds,  quietly  withdrew. 
These  dissenters  drew  up  a  plan  of  their  own,  submitted  it 
to  His  Majesty  and  received  his  approval  and  patronage. 
This  was  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts,  in 
which  "The  Departure  of  Regulus  "  was  placed  during  its 
first  exhibition,  and  of  which  West  himself  was  so  long 
President. 


PAINTING.  197 

West  now  by  a  coup  d'etat  made  for  himself  a  lasting 
monument  and  effected  a  sudden  and  wonderful  change  in 
the  world  of  art.  Historical  painters  had  hitherto  clothed 
their  warriors  of  whatever  nationality  or  period  in  the 
Grecian  or  Roman  costume.  In  his  "  Death  of  Wolfe,"  West 
had  the  audacity  to  clothe  his  Englishman  in  the  soldier  dress 
of  that  period.  Archbishop  Drummond  and  Reynolds  went 
to  West  during  the  progress  of  this  picture  and  tried  to 
dissuade  him  from  so  barbarous  an  idea.  "  I  want  to  mark 
the  place,  the  time,  and  the  people,  and  to  do  this  I  must 
abide  by  truth,"  was  West's  answer  to  their  objections.  And 
Truth  glorified  her  vindicator.  No  other  historical  painting 
has  received  such  unlimited  praise,  and  from  this  picture 
dates  a  revolution  in  art. 

West's  brush  was  now  never  idle.  From  his  kingly  patron 
he  constantly  received  new  orders.  He  painted  at  his  sug- 
gestion eight  pictures  illustrative  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III. 
West  expended  much  time  and  labor  on  these  eight  subjects, 
and  they  are  considered  his  best  works,  "The  Death  of 
Wolfe,"  "  Death  on  the  Pale  Horse,"  and  "The  Battle  of  La 
Hogue,"  excepted. 

King  George  gave  orders  to  West  that  his  chapel  be 
adorned  with  paintings  illustrative  of  revealed  religion. 
West  became  a  Bible  student,  and  pored  over  its  sacred 
pages  day  and  night.  The  result  of  these  studies  was  thirty- 
six  sketches,  twenty-eight  of  which  were  executed,  and  for 
which  West  received  twenty-one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  five  pounds.  It  was  unfortunate  for  West  that  he  ever 
conceived  so  sublime  a  flight.  His  imagination  was  not  bold 
enough  to  climb  to  such  a  height,  nor  his  heart  warm  enough 
to  give  to  his  pictures  that  glow  that  appeals  irresistibly  to 


198 


PAINTING. 


humanity.  Besides  many  of  these  scenes  had  already  been 
traced  by  other  and  diviner  hands,  and  his  touch  had  in  it 
something  of  profanation. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  President  of  the  Royal  Academy 
since  its  foundation,  having  died,  West  was  unanimously 
elected  to  take  his  place,  and  he  continued  to  hold  this  posi- 
tion till  1802.  In  this  year  he  resigned  and  Wyatt  was 
elected  in  his  stead,  but  only  held  the  honor  one  year,  when 
he  was  displaced  and  West  unanimously  re-elected.  Death 
alone  removed  him  from  this  distinguished  position. 

West  was  now  over  sixty-four.  The  illness  of  the  king 
having  caused  a  suspension  of  his  work  for  the  chapel,  he 
commenced  a  series  of  Scriptural  subjects  on  his  own 
account.  The  first  of  these  was  "  Christ  Healing  the  Sick," 
which  he  painted  for  a  Quaker  hospital  in  Philadelphia,  but 
being  offered  three  thousand  guineas  by  the  British  Institu- 
tion, he  sold  the  picture  and  sent  a  duplicate  to  the  hospital. 
The  success  of  this  picture  increased  the  boldness  of  West's 
conceptions,  and  he  ventured  to  depict  the  grandest  visions 
of  inspiration,  but  his  imagination,  tired  with  too  long  tarry- 
ing in  this  exalted  atmosphere,  flagged  and  fell.  He 
imagined  himself  an  eagle,  capable  of  sustaining  him- 
self at  will  upon  the  boldest  crags  of  inspired  thought. 
Instead,  as  often  as  he  essayed  the  heights,  his  weary 
pinions,  crippled  with  old  age,  bore  him  remorselessly  back 
to  earth. 

Elizabeth,  his  tender  and  obedient  wife,  died  December 
6th,  1817.  Consecrated  by  death,  West  realized  what  inspir- 
ation he  had  drawn  from  her  gentle  spirit.  He  continued 
to  paint  three  years  longer,  but  his  right  hand  had  forgot 
its  cunning.  On  the  nth  of  March,  1820,  in  the  eighty- 


PAINTING.  199 

second  year  of  his  life,  he  fell  in  death  f^om  perfect  ripe- 
ness, as 

"  The  full-juiced  apple,  waxing  over-mellow, 
Drops  in  a  silent  autumn  night." 

He  reposes  by  the  side  of  Reynolds,  Opie,  and  Barry,  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  London. 

It  is  unfortunate  for  posterity  that  West  walked  forever  in 
the  sunshine  of  prosperity.  We  cannot  think  he  fulfilled  the 
promise  of  his  early  childhood.  His  conceptions  were  of  the 
grandest,  his  execution  careful  and  exact,  but  his  pictures,  with 
one  or  two  notable  exceptions,  were  not  humanized  and  vital- 
ized by  personal  feeling  and  suffering.  He  had  never  felt  in- 
tensely, and  had  never  suffered — how  then  could  he  put  into 
a  picture  that  which,  while  it  draws  tears  from  the  eyes, 
warms  and  ennobles  the  heart  ?  As  a  mortal,  he  had  a  per- 
sonal conception  of  Death,  the  All-Conqueror ;  hence  we 
find  the  grandest  of  his  pictures  to  be  "  The  Death  of  Wolfe  " 
and  that  solemn  and  weird  creation,  "  Death  on  a  Pale 
Horse." 


THE  ELECTRIC  LIGHT. 

IT  is  almost  within  the  present  decade  that  John  T.  Sprague, 
an  eminent  electrician  and  telegraphic  engineer  in  Eng- 
land, added  a  postscript  to  his  work  on  Electric  Light- 
ing, in  which  he  noticed  "  a  report  that  Mr.  Edison  had 
invented  a    remarkable  dynamo  machine,"  and  further 
observed  that  "  Mr.  Edison  apparently  promises  more  than 
he  can  perform  ;  neither  he  nor  any  one  else  can  bring  more 
out  of  electricity  than  there  is  in  it ;  and  the  report  savors 
considerably   of  'newspaper  science   and   exaggerated  state- 
ment."    Even   up  till  a  very  recent  period  it  was  generally 
considered  that  it  was  impossible  to  subdivide  the  electric 
current  as  to  distribute  the   light  from  a  number  of  small 
lamps  so  as  to  make  it  of  practical  value  otherwise  than  in 
large  buildings  or  out-of-door  spaces.     But  the  latest  writers 
agree  with  the  spoken  opinion  of  the  experienced  practical 
electricians  of  to-day  that  the  science  of  electric  illumination 
is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  the  field  of  exploration  unlimited. 

From  Oersted's  discovery  in  1820  that  an  electric  current 
could  be  made  to  deflect  a  magnetic  needle,  came  the  gradual 
evolution  of  the  electric  telegraph ;  from  Sir  Michael  Fara- 
day's discovery,  a  few  years  later,  of  the  phenomena  of  mag- 
netic induction,  came  the  electric  light.  From  the  period  of 
Faraday's  discovery,  many  scientific  minds  were  at  work  in- 
200 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON. 


THE    ELECTRIC    LIGHT.  2OI 

dependently  for  years  on  the  problem  of  turning  it  to  practi- 
cal account.  Eventually,  in  about  twenty-five  years,  F.  H. 
Holmes  designed,  and  had  perfected,  a  machine  for  the  gen- 
eration of  electric  light,  which  was  exhibited  in  London  be- 
fore a  body  of  scientific  men.  Faraday  was  present  at  this 
exhibition,  and  was  delighted  with  the  results  attained,  saying 
to  Mr.  Holmes,  "  Remember,  this,  my  baby,  but  you  have 
made  a  man  of  the  infant."  This  Holmes  machine  was  ap- 
proved by  the  Masters  of  the  Trinity  House,  and  the  first 
light-house  illuminated  was  the  South  Foreland,  in  1858. 

Henceforth  the  subject  of  electric  illumination  became  fas- 
cinating to  all  electricians.  From  Faraday's  discovery  that 
an  electric  current  set  up  by  the  rotation  of  a  conducting 
wire  among  the  lines  of  force  of  a  magnet  would  produce 
light,  the  idea  developed  in  successive  stages,  until  from  the 
little  experimental  machines  used  chiefly  for  amusement  (or 
curative  purposes  by  physicians)  have  arisen  the  elaborate 
apparatus  capable  of  generating  immense  amounts  of  elec- 
tricity, and  requiring  the  working  force  of  powerful  and 
specially  adapted  steam-engines. 

The  inter-dependence  of  scientific  discoveries  is  illustrated 
well  by  the  necessary  coeval  invention,  for  electric  purposes, 
of  driving  engines  of  a  peculiar  character  ;  these  requiring  to 
be  plain,  substantial,  and  having  continuous  motion  ;  for  the 
engine  may  not  cease  working  one  moment  so  long  as 
the  light  is  required  to  blaze. 

Electric  illumination  is  the  finest  lighting  power  as  yet  dis- 
covered. Its  immediate  predecessor,  gas,  produces  light  and 
heat  by  the  direct  combustion  of  the  volatile  parts  of  coal  at 
the  point  where  these  are  required,  and  both  consumes  and 
poisons  the  air  surrounding  the  points  of  combustion.  With 


2O2  THE    ELECTRIC    LIGHT. 

the  electric  light,  the  consumption  of  air  takes  place  within 
the  furnace  instead  of  at  the  burner,  therefore  consumes  no 
outer  air,  and  exhales  no  noxious  vapor ;  it  converts  the 
power  latent  in  coal  into  light,  but  by  a  different  process  ; 
and  has  the  further  advantage  of  possessing  all  the  colors 
forming  perfect  light,  and  therefore,  unlike  gas,  shows 
all  colors  in  their  true  shades.  This  quality  makes  electric 
illumination  invaluable  in  dye-works,  the  rays  of  the  voltaic 
arc  rendering  it  easy  to  match  all  colors  in  every  shade. 

The  value  of  this  new  light  having  been  proved,  the  next 
step  was  to  overcome  the  difficulty  of  dividing  the  electric 
current  so  as  to  form  a  number  of  individual  lights  of  less  in- 
tensity  than  that  one  supplied  from  the  whole  current.  This 
problem  was  solved  by  the  use  of  alternating  currents  and 
regulators  working  with  the  continuous  current. 

In  1867  S.  A.  Varley,  Sir  Charles  Wheatstone,  and  Dr. 
Siemens  (each  prosecuting  their  ideas  quite  independently) 
made  the  identical  discovery  of  the  principle  of  the  re-action 
of  electro-magnetic  currents,  and,  without  any  previous  con- 
sultation, Siemens  and  Wheatstone  announced  their  discovery 
to  the  Royal  Society  on  the  same  evening.  This  discovery 
gave  birth  to  the  "  dynamo  "  machines  now  in  use. 

Inventors  in  this  line  of  science  multiplied,  whose  names 
(Edison,  Lane,  Makin,  Swan,  Lane-Fox)  are  familiar  as 
household  words ;  but  forty  years  before  Swan  in  England 
and  Edison  in  America  almost  simultaneously  demonstrated 
the  practicability  of  the  idea  of  electric  illumination,  the 
inventor  Starr  took  out  a  patent  for  incandescent  lighting. 

Although  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  new,  light  Edison's  in- 
ventions were  but  coldly  received,  he  is  generally  considered 
the  pioneer  of  the  now  established  systems  ;  and  the  dis- 


THE    ELECTRIC    LIGHT.  2O$ 

tinctive  peculiarity  of  his  own  system,  viz.,  the  distribution  of 
currents  from  the  main  generator,  has  its  value  fully 
acknowledged. 

The  great  light  is  winning  its  way  all  over  the  civilized 
globe,  and  its  indirect  value  extends  over  diversified  spheres 
of  life.  It  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  indisputable  statistics 
that  in  one  district  of  New  York  alone — the  Bowery — street- 
crimes  have  diminished  sixty-five  per  cent,  since  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  powerful  illuminator.  It  has  opened  new  fields 
of  industry  to  intelligent  workmen,  and  employs  an  army  of 
people  in  every  great  city,  who  spend  their  whole  working 
life  underground. 

The  rapidity  with  which  electric  illumination  gains  ground 
is  among  the  marvels  of  modern  scientific  evolution.  In 
1880,  the  largest  installation  of  electric  light  then  known  was 
that  of  the  Savoy  Theatre  in  London — about  two  hundred 
lights.  Now,  the  Auditorium  at  Chicago  has  an  installation 
of  three  thousand  lights;  while  at  the  Melbourne  Centennial 
Exhibition  of  1888,  two  thousand  Edison  and  Swan  incan- 
descent lights,  and  nine  hundred  and  fifty  British  arc  lights 
were  in  use ;  besides  five  lights  of  four  thousand  candle 
power  each  in  the  dome.  Each  lamp  lighted  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  floor  surface.  The  massive 
machinery  of  this  enormous  plant  was  chiefly  of  Victorian 
manufacture,  and  included  three  pair  of  driving  engines,  with 
twelve  boilers  each  of  fifteen  hundred  horse-power,  and 
forty-two  dynamo  machines. 


AERIAL  NAVIGATION. 

II  If  AN  is  the  superior  of  all  created  beings,  the  crown- 

IV I       m£    triumph    of    the    divine   workmanship.       His 

I       1      intellect,  his  spiritual  nature  raise  him  to  a  plane 

*      4  where  he  can  comprehend  the  infinite  mind,  can 

know  in  part  the  infinite  thought  originating  and 

pervading  the  world.     And  yet,  the  tiniest  bird  that  floats  an 

airy  speck  in  the  blue  vault  above  him  has  a  gift  that  man 

in  his  might  deigns  to  envy. 

"  Oh !  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove  !"  has  been  the  sigh  of 
aspiring  humanity  since  the  world  began,  but  the  secret  of 
the  bird's  flight  has  been  locked  in  its  own  feathered  breast, 
defying  the  questioning  eye  that  would  search  it  out.  It  has 
seemed  to  man  a  humiliating  thought  that  a  little  bird  should 
flap  its  wings  triumphantly  over  his  head,  and  soar  away  till 
its  exultant  carol  was  lost  in  the  azure  distance.  Darius 
Green  is  not  the  only  chagrined  mortal  who  has  propounded 
to  himself  the  indignant  query  : 

"  The  birds  can  fly,  an'  why  can't  I  ? 
Are  the  blue  bird  an'  phebe  smarte'n  we  be ; 
Does  the  little  chattering  saucy  wren, 
No  bigger'n  my  thumb,  know  more  'n  men  ? 
Just  show  me  that,  or  prove  that  the  bat 
Has  got  more  brains  than's  in  my  hat, 
An'  I'll  give  in,  an'  not  till  then." 

204 


AERIAL    NAVIGATION.  2O5 

Envy  is  the  first  step  toward  imitation.  Man  saw  fishes 
swimming  in  the  sea,  he  studied  their  movements,  and  con- 
structed himself  barks  whereby  he  might  skim  the  waves  as 
well.  And,  in  like  manner,  the  genius  of  men  has  been  for 
ages  contriving,  devising,  and  experimenting,  if  perchance  it 
could  invent  an  apparatus  that  should  make  possible  for 
human  beings  the  flight  of  the  swallow. 

The  endeavors  to  construct  flying  machines  are  as  old  as 
history.  Some  iconoclastic  realists,  who  would  reduce  every 
cherished  myth  to  the  terms  of  probability,  would  have  us 
believe  that  even  the  mythological  Daedalus,  whose  vaulting 
ambition  led  him  to  fly  so  near  the  sun  that  the  scorching 
solar  rays  disastrously  melted  his  newly-donned  wings  of 
wax,  causing  him  to  fall  with  a  "  dull,  heavy  thud"  to  the 
earth,  was  but  the  precursor  of  the  latter-day  aeronauts,  and 
that  the  mythological  tale  is  but  a  gently  symbolic  way  of 
conveying  that  his  venture  was  a  failure. 

The  followers  of  Daedalus  have  many  of  them  shared  his 
unfortunate  fate,  but  others  seem  in  no  way  deterred  by  this 
from  new  undertakings.  One  Simon  Magus,  in  the  reign  of 
the  Emperor  Nero,  is  said  to  have  fallen  and  been  dashed  to 
pieces  while  essaying  to  fly  from  one  house  to  another.  In 
the  fifteenth  century,  a  mathematician  by  the  name  of  Dante 
planned  and  executed  a  more  successful  experiment.  By 
means  of  artificial  wings  securely  fastened  to  his  body,  he 
was  enabled  to  raise  himself  above  Lake  Thrasimene.  Other 
inventive  geniuses  have  at  divers  times  believed  that  they 
had  at  last  grasped  the  secret  of  sustaining  and  propelling  a 
body  in  the  air,  but  their  machines  when  put  to  a  test  have 
ever  been  found  lacking  in  the  one  thing  needful  to  consti- 
tute flying. 


2O6  AERIAL    NAVIGATION. 

The  feat  of  lifting  one's  self  into  the  air  was  attained  with 
the  invention  of  the  balloon.  The  discovery  of  hydrogen 
gas  by  Cavendish  in  1 766  suggested  to  scientists  a  practical 
method  of  aerial  navigation.  Some  experiments  made  by  Mr. 
Cavendish  with  hydrogen,  revealed  that  that  gas  was  sixteen 
times  lighter  than  common  air.  It  would  therefore  rise  to  a 
height  at  which  air  is  sixteen  times  lighter  than  it  is  at  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  This  discovery  suggested  to  Dr.  Black, 
a  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  the 
idea  of  the  balloon.  He  inferred  that  a  bag  filled  with  hy- 
drogen gas  would  rise  in  air.  He  accordingly  constructed  a 
large  skin  bag,  which  he  filled  with  this  gas,  but  his  experi- 
ment was  unsuccessful,  owing  to  difficulty  in  obtaining  a 
material  for  the  bag  which  should  be  at  the  same  time  of 
sufficient  lightness  and  impervious  to  air. 

To  two  brothers,  Stephen  and  Joseph  Montgolfier,  paper 
manufacturers  at  Annonay,  France,  who  had  previously  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  the  invention  of  a  machine  called 
the  hydraulic  ram,  belongs  the  honor  of  sending  up  the  first 
balloon.  .Their  first  ascent  was  made  in  June,  1793.  The 
balloon  used  on  this  occasion  was  made  of  canvas,  lined  with 
paper,  and  weighed  five  hundred  pounds.  They  had  devised 
a  means  of  filling  the  bag  with  hot  air,  from  a  fire  made  of 
bundles  of  chopped  straw.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  Montgolfiers 
themselves  fully  understood  the  principle  underlying  the  ele- 
vation of  their  balloon,  they  seeming  to  attribute  it  to  the 
ascending  power  of  the  smoke  which  filled  the  bag,  rather 
than  to  the  actual  cause,  the  rarefication  of  the  heated  air. 
The  balloon,  on  being  freed,  rose  rapidly  to  a  height  of  about 
a  mile,  remained  suspended  in  the  air  for  several  minutes,  and 
fell  at  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  starting  place. 


AERIAL    NAVIGATION.  2O/ 

The  news  of  this  experiment  spread  to  Paris  where  it 
caused  a  great  sensation.  M.  Charles,  a  celebrated  lecturer 
on  natural  philosophy,  was  led  to  supervise  a  second  experi- 
ment, which  was  made  in  August  from  the  Champ  de  Mars^ 
Success  attended  this  exploit,  and  now  that  the  possibility  of 
raising  a  bag  was  assured,  the  experimenters  cast  about  for 
a  means  of  carrying  persons  up  with  the  balloon.  As  yet, 
no  one  had  hazarded  so  doubtful  a  journey. 

Two  young  men  named  Pilatre  de  Rozier  and  Marquis 
d'Arlandes  were  the  first  to  accomplish  this  feat,  making  am 
ascent  of  three  thousand  feet,  and  returning  to  the  earth  in> 
safety.  The  early  experiments  were  mainly  made  with  ther 
Montgolfier  balloon,,  filled  with  heated  air.  The  aeronauts 
were  obliged  to  carry  with  them  a  supply  of  fuel  to  renew  the 
rarefied  air  as  rapidly  as  it  escaped,  and  from  this  fact  resulted 
some  disastrous  accidents. 

Ballooning  was  now  fairly  inaugurated.  New  inventions, 
modified  and  improved  on  the  original  models,  and  yet,  in  all 
its  essential  features,  the  balloon  of  to-day  is  a  prototype  of 
its  predecessors.  In  place  of  heated  air  or  hydrogen  for 
inflating  the  bag,  however,  aeronauts  have  of  late  years  sub- 
stituted carburetted  hydrogen,  or  common  coal  gas,  which  has- 
a  mean  density  of  about  one-half  that  of  air.  Mr.  Green,, 
the  English  aeronaut,  first  introduced  this  improvement. 

No  sooner  was  ballooning  demonstrated  to  be  a  success- 
than  its  application  to  practical  purposes  was  sought.  This- 
was  a  most  difficult  task,  since,  although  buoyancy  was- 
secured  with  the  balloon,  to  pursue  a  course  in  the  air  involved- 
other  considerations.  From  their  ability  to  rise  to  great 
heights,  however,  balloons  were  early  pressed  into  the  service 
of  scientific  investigators,  and  much  valuable  information  in 


2O8  AERIAL    NAVIGATION. 

regard  to  upper  air  currents  and  variations  of  temperature  at 
different  altitudes  has  resulted  from  these  aerial  explorations. 
To  these  expeditions,  astronomy  is,  of  course,  a  debtor, 
although  not  so  largely  so  as  would  at  first  seem  probable. 
Among  the  most  successful  of  balloon  explorers  have  been 
Mr.  James  Glaisher,  F.  R.  S.,  of  England,  and  Messrs. 
Camille  Flammarion,  W.  de  Fonville,  and  Gaston  Lissandier, 
of  France. 

The  majority  of  the  ascents  which  have  been  made  since 
the  invention  of  the  balloon,  and  which  number  many  thou- 
sand in  both  Europe  and  America,  have  been  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  a  multitude,  as  a  popular  spectacle,  rather  than  for 
.any  scientific  or  useful  purpose.  Skillful  and  daring  aero- 
nauts have  not  been  wanting,  who  have  astounded,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  terrified  the  spell-bound  spectators.  Of  the 
later  French  aeronauts,  Eugene  and  Louis  Godard  have  been 
the  most  famous.  The  English  aeronaut,  Green,  had  during 
a  professional  career  of  thirty-six  years  probably  a  wider 
experience  with  the  balloon  than  any  other  person.  He  made 
nearly  fourteen  hundred  ascents,  crossing  the  sea  three  times, 
.and  twice  falling  into  it.  In  1836  he,  in  company  with  two 
•other  persons,  sailed  in  an  enormous  balloon,  provided  with 
provisions  for  a  fortnight's  journeying  from  London  to  Weil- 
burg,  a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles  in  eighteen  hours.  A 
feat  of  aerial  journeying  distancing  even  this  was,  however, 
accomplished  by  Mr.  John  Wise,  the  American  aeronaut, 
With  three  other  persons,  he  journeyed  from  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, to  Jefferson  County,  in  New  York,  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  distance,  in  nineteen  hours  and  fifty 
minutes,  being  an  average  rate  of  a  mile  per  minute. 
.  A  balloon  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  was  projected  in  1873, 


AERIAL    NAVIGATION.  2OQ 

which,  although  it  never  took  place,  was  famous  for  the  extent 
of  the  preparations  made.  The  balloon  was  to  be  of  un- 
bleached muslin,  coated  with  a  varnish  made  of  linseed  oil, 
beeswax,  and  benzine.  It  was  to  be  one  hundred  and  ten  feet 
high,  and  one  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  with  a  gas  capacity  of 
six  hundred  thousand  cubic  feet.  A  boat  was  to  be  attached, 
which  should  have  water-tight  compartments,  and  should  be 
self-righting.  A  complete  outfit  of  oars  and  sails  was  to  be 
provided,  and  provisions  in  water-tight  cases  sufficient  for  a 
thirty  days'  journey.  The  weight  of  the  balloon,  car,  and  all 
accessories,  was  to  be  seven  thousand  one  hundred  pounds. 
That  this  much-talked-of  voyage  never  occurred  is  to  be 
regretted,  since  it  was  expected  by  scientists  to  solve  many 
yet  unsettled  problems  of  balloon  sailing. 

M.  Camille  Flammarion's  celebrated  voyage  from  Paris  is 
one  of  the  most  unique  of  aeronautical  excursions.  The 
occasion  was  none  the  less  romantic  than  the  mode  of  transit, 
being  a  bridal  journey.  In  his  inimitably  charming  language 
the  great  astronomer  describes  the  ascent  into  the  air  from 
Paris  on  a  perfect  summer  evening.  The  city  recedes  beneath 
them  like  a  fair  picture,  while  they  approach  to  the  region  of 
the  moon  and  stars.  Battle-fields,  hamlets,  and  rivers  are 
passed  over  in  their  brief  tour,  which,  although  it  occupied 
only  six  hours,  was  replete  with  delightful  experiences. 

Shortly  after  the  invention  of  the  balloon,  it  was  imagined 
that  they  might  be  rendered  useful  for  purposes  of  observa- 
tion in  time  of  war.  An  aeronautic  school  was  established 
at  Mendon,  France,  and  balloons  were  distributed  among1  the 
French  armies.  General  Gordon  is  said  to  have  owed  his 
victory  in  the  battle  of  Fleurus,  in  1794,  to  information  about 
the  Austrian  positions  and  movements  obtained  by  French 

14 


2IO  AERIAL    NAVIGATION. 

officers  stationed  in  a  balloon.  The  balloon  was  held  by  a 
cable,  but  so  arranged  that  the  observers  could  soar  above 
the  fire  of  the  enemy. 

In  the  American  Civil  War,  balloons  were  again  made  use 
of,  with  valuable  results.  Early  in  the  war  the  United  States 
War  Department  organized  a  balloon  corps,  placing  it  under 
the  management  of  Messrs.  La  Mountain,  Lowe,  and  other 
experienced  aeronauts.  The  feat  of  telegraphing  from  an 
aerial  station  six  hundred  feet  above  the  earth  was  first  ac- 
complished by  Mr.  Lowe.  This  achievement  was  fraught 
with  momentous  importance,  and,  during  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer of  1860,  many  balloons  were  sent  up.  So  useful  was 
this  balloon  corps  found  to  be  that  it  formed  a  part  of  Gen- 
eral McClellan's  expedition  to  the  Peninsula,  in  1862.  These 
balloons  were  made  of  the  best  and  finest  description  of  silk, 
the  varnish,  on  which  much  of  the  success  depends,  being  a 
secret  of  Mr.  Lowe's.  By  the  application  of  this  varnish,  his 
balloons  were  made  to  retain  their  gas  for  a  fortnight  or 
more,  and  this  quality,  it  will  be  readily  understood,  was  for 
military  purposes  a  most  important  one. 

The  balloon  staff  consisted  of  one  chief  aeronaut,  with 
rank  not  lower  than  captain  nor  higher  than  brigadier ;  one 
assistant  captain,  and  fifty  non-commissioned  officers  and 
privates.  The  apparatus  consisted  of  two  generators,  two 
balloons,  and  an  acid  cart.  Frequent  ascents  were  made  by 
these  balloons,  and  a  report  of  his  observations  was  sent 
daily  by  the  aeronaut  to  General  McClellan.  In  clear 
weather  the  balloon  could,  at  a  height  of  one  thousand 
feet,  command  an  effective  range  of  vision  for  ten  miles  or 
imore. 

While  the  army  was  before   Richmond,  the  balloons  were 


AERIAL    NAVIGATION.  2  I  I 

constantly  in  use,  and  the  reports  were  anxiously  awaited. 
During  the  first  two  days  of  heavy  fighting,  a  telegraph  in- 
strument was  taken  up  into  the  car,  the  wire  placed  in  com- 
munication with  the  line  to  Washington,  and  reports  sent  thus 
directly  above  the  field  of  battle  to  the  Government.  General 
Fitz-John  Porter  barely  escaped,  on  one  occasion,  a  disastrous 
termination  to  his  aerial  observations.  While  he  was  watch- 
ing from  a  captive  balloon  the  enemy's  movements,  the  cable 
which  secured  the  balloon  suddenly  broke,  and  he  drifted 
over  the  Confederate  lines.  He  hastily  pulled  the  valve- 
string,  thereby  causing  the  machine  to  descend,  when  a  cur- 
rent of  air  going  in  an  opposite  direction  was  reached,  and 
he  was  landed  in  safety  within  the  Union  lines.  At  the  bat- 
tle of  Fair  Oaks,  Mr.  Lowe,  who  watched  the  conflict  from  a 
balloon,  was  the  first  to  make  known  the  enemy's  retreat  to 
Richmond.  The  balloon  corps  was  disbanded  after  Mc- 
Clellan's  retreat  to  Harrison's  Landing,  and  no  further  use 
seems  to  have  been  made  of  balloons  for  military  purposes 
during  the  war. 

It  was  during  the  Franco-Prussian  War  that  balloons  were 
next  pressed  into  active  service.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  war,  the  French  Government  had  rejected  a  proposal  to 
supply  the  army  with  balloons,  deeming  them  of  little  practi- 
cal utility,  but  the  siege  of  Paris  by  the  Germans,  in  1870-71, 
demonstrated  that  a  balloon  is  the  most  feasible  means  by 
which  the  inhabitants  of  a  besieged  city  may  communicate 
with  the  outside  world. 

The  Parisians  found  themselves  cut  off  from  intercourse 
with  the  outside,  with  no  machine  which  could  be  trusted  to 
pass  over  the  besieging  lines  in  safety.  Balloon  factories 
were  speedily  established  in  two  of  the  principal  railway 


212  AERIAL    NAVIGATION. 

stations,  and  nearly  seventy  machines  were  made  previous  to 
the  capitulation.  The  material  of  the  bags  was  calico,  var- 
nished with  a  mixture  of  linseed  oil  and  oxide  of  lead,  and 
the  balloons  were  of  an  average  capacity  of  seventy  thousand 
cubic  feet. 

The  first  balloon  left  Paris  with  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  pounds  of  letters,  and  landed  in  safety  at  Evreux.  The 
work  accomplished  by  balloons  during  the  siege  was  no  less 
than  sixty-one  voyages  and  the  carrying  of  two  million  five 
hundred  thousand  letters.  Most  of  the  balloons  took  with 
them  carrier  pigeons,  which  were  intended  to  bring  back  re- 
plies to  the  letters,  but  a  comparatively  small  number  of  the 
pigeons  ever  returned  to  Paris.  Since  these  little  birds  were 
capable  of  carrying  only  a  light  weight  on  their  return  jour- 
ney, long  letters  and  messages  were  reduced  by  photography 
to  within  a  space  of  one  or  two  square  inches,  on  the  thinnest 
kind  of  paper.  When  these  messages  were  received  they 
were  read  by  means  of  a  microscope,  and  transcribed  into 
readable  form.  Several  balloons  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  and  three  have  never  been  heard  from  since  they  left 
Paris.  One,  the  "  Washington,"  while  crossing  the  Prussian 
outposts,  at  a  height  of  three  thousand  feet,  was  attacked  by 
so  severe  a  fire  from  the  enemy  that  the  travelers  were 
forced  to  ascend  hastily  several  hundred  feet  to  escape  total 
demolition.  Attempts  were  made  to  send  the  balloons  by 
night  to  escape  the  enemy's  firing,  but  these  journeys  were 
found  to  be  too  hazardous,  since  the  aeronauts  were  unable  to 
determine  their  direction  of  traveling  or  their  distance  from 
the  earth.  Among  persons  to  make  use  of  the  aerial  high- 
way was  Gambetta,  who  left  the  city  by  this  mode  of  transit, 
in  order  to  enter  upon  the  control  of  affairs  at  Tours. 


AERIAL    NAVIGATION.  2IJ 

Serviceable  as  the  balloon  has  proved  in  times  of  war,  it 
is  yet  seriously  doubted  by  scientists  whether  it  can  ever 
be  widely  utilized  as  a  means  of  travel.  This  is  because  of 
the  failure  thus  far  to  apply  any  means  of  steering  a  balloon 
which  shall  enable  the  aeronaut  to  pursue  an  exact  course 
through  the  air,  landing  where  he  will.  No  one  has  yet  been 
able  to  successfully  guide  a  balloon  in  a  horizontal  direction, 
and  easily  as  a  balloonist  may  ascend  to  great  heights,  he  is 
largely  at  the  mercy  of  the  winds  after  having  ascended. 

Becoming  convinced  that  the  problem  of  aerial  navigation 
will  not  be  satisfactorily  solved  by  the  balloon,  the  "  Aero- 
nautical Society  "  has  been  of  late  years  established  in  Eng- 
land, numbering  among  its  members  many  distinguished 
men,  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  other  means  of  sailing 
the  air. 

Is  there,  then,  a  reasonable  probability  that  men  will  one 
day  fly  through  the  air  as  now  they  sail  the  ocean  ?  Men  of 
science  answer  decisively,  Why  not  ?  The  act  of  flying  is 
not  conditioned  by  vitality.  It  is  purely  a  mechanical  action. 
It  consists  merely  in  the  adjustment  of  certain  physical  forces 
to  the  production  of  motion.  These  forces  are  essentially 
the  same  as  those  which  man  has  subjected  to  his  use  in 
other  fields,  and  under  conditions  apparently  as  insurmount- 
able. Once  the  action  of  these  forces  is  understood,  success 
should  be  attainable.  It  is  because  men  have  had  incorrect 
theories  as  to  the  principles  governing  the  bird's  motion  in 
air  that  they  have  failed  in  their  attempts  to  imitate  it.  The 
mechanical  conditions  of  flight  must  be  thoroughly  understood 
to  be  reproduced. 

The  end  to  aim  at  in  the  construction  of  a  flying  machine 
is  that  it  shall  apply  to  the  air  the  same  conditions  imparted 


214  AERIAL    NAVIGATION. 

to  it  by  the  mechanical  wing  action  of  a  bird.  The  bird,  by 
this  motion,  sustains  in  air  and  propels  with  ease  a  weight 
out  of  all  apparent  proportion  to  the  surface  of  its  wing. 
When  men  shall  have  fully  mastered  the  principles  govern- 
ing the  action  of  surfaces  at  different  velocities  upon  elastic 
and  yielding  media,  as  air,  when  they  shall  have  learned  how 
to  obtain  a  power  for  a  lever  upon  an  unstable  fulcrum,  they 
will  be  not  far  from  the  solution  of  the  mystery  of  aerial 
navigation. 

How  to  combine  the  greatest  lightness  with  the  greatest 
strength  is  the  problem,  and  the  hollow  bones  of  the  bird  are 
in  this  regard  the  proper  model  for  the  builders  of  aerial 
machines.  A  motor  power  light  enough  and  yet  powerful 
enough  to  perform  the  service  required  has  yet  to  be  dis- 
covered, but  that  such  a  power  will  in  time  be  found  who,  in 
the  light  of  past  achievements,  can  doubt  ?  He  who  has 
chained  the  steam  to  his  car,  and  made  electricity  the  servant 
to  do  his  bidding  will  not  surely  despair  of  further  conquests. 
Rather,  he  will  believe  that  there  is  no  limit  to  the  inventive 
genius  of  man,  and  will  rest  satisfied  only  when  he  has  made 
himself  master  of  every  physical  force. 

What  the  navigation  of  the  air  will  open  up  for  human- 
kind, imagination  can  only  dream  of.  We  may  not  even, 
with  airy  navies,  be  on  visiting  terms  with  Mars  or  Venus. 
We  may  not  yet  discover  if  there  are  dwellers  on  the  other 
side  of  the  moon.  But  one  thing  is  assured.  It  will  usher  in 
an  era  of  swifter  transit  than  the  world  has  yet  known.  It 
will  bring  nations  nearer  together  than  even  railroads  or 
telegraphs  have  done,  and  would  be,  indeed,  a  fitting  climax 
to  the  wonderful  achievements  which  the  present  century  has 
witnessed. 


FIREARMS. 

SING  of  arms,"  sang  Virgil,  and  it  is  of  arms  and  their 
achievements  that  most  of  the  poems  and  histories  of 
the  world  have  been  written.  The  production  of 
weapons  for  military  purposes  is  one  of  the  first  acts 
to  which  the  energies  of  a  primitive  people  are  directed. 
They  originate  with  the  earliest  necessity  for  national  defense 
or  desire  for  national  aggression.  Swords,  arrows,  and 
battle-axes  are  implements  of  the  least  civilized,  the  wholly 
barbarous  races.  The  origin  of  weapons  is  therefore  almost 
co-existent  with  the  origin  of  mankind,  and  a  study  of  the 
agents  with  which  the  world  has  fought  its  battles  must  ever 
be  an  interesting  one. 

With  the  invention  of  firearms  was  inaugurated  a  new  era 
in  the  history  of  warfare.  In  the  generic  term  firearms  are 
included  all  weapons  whose  action  consists  in  the  propulsion 
of  projectiles  by  means  of  an  explosive.  The  existence  of 
firearms  is  wholly  dependent  upon  a  certain  hidden  quality 
of  gunpowder.  Inflammable  material  was  employed  by  the 
ancients  in  warfare.  Sulphur  and  resinous  gums,  or  naphtha 
and  bituminous  substances,  constituted  the  materials  known 
in  remotely  antique  times,  as  "Greek  fire,"  "wild  fire,"  or 
"  Media's  oil."  These  compounds  were  deflagrated  in  vessels 
which  could  not  be  denominated  firearms. 

215 


21 6  FIREARMS. 

A  weapon  similar  to  a  Roman  candle  of  the  pyrotechnists 
was  invented  by  some  of  the  Eastern  nations,  and  in  exten- 
sive use  up  to  the  fifteenth  century,  in  warfare  and  for  the 
purpose  of  frightening  horses  and  cattle  on  pillaging  expedi- 
tions. This  instrument  consisted  of  a  tube  filled  with  Grecian 
wax  and  metal  filings  alternated  with  layers  of  gunpowder  and 
balls  of  tow  mixed  with  sulphur.  The  weapon  was  discharged 
by  lighting  it  at  the  muzzle,  when  the  filling  burned  down  till 
it  reached  the  gunpowder,  which,  igniting,  shot  out  the  balls. 

Gunpowder  and  firearms  were  used  by  the  Arabs  in  the 
eighth  century  in  the  form  of  weapons  known  as  "  manjaniks," 
which  they  introduced  into  Spain  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
Cannon  were  employed  to  throw  stones  at  the  defense  of 
Seville  in  1247,  and  shortly  after  these  machines  figured  in 
other  military  contests.  In  1350  the  North  German  knights 
were  said  to  have  been  armed  with  iron  guns,  and  Einbeck 
was,  in  1365,  defended  by  firearms. 

These  early  firearms  were  known  to  their  users  in  different 
countries  by  different  names,  such  as  "bombardo"  in  Italy, 
"buchsen"  in  Germany,  "quenon"  in  France,"  and  "crack- 
eys"  or  "  engynnes  of  war"  in  England.  It  was  not  before 
the  fifteenth  century  that  firearms  were  classified  and  named 
accordingly.  The  forerunners  of  the  modern  bombs  or  mor- 
tars were  the  "bombards,"  short  vessels  from  which  stone 
balls  were  shot  at  a  short  distance  and  considerable  height, 
and  with  a  small  charge.  Early  firearms  were  usually  loaded 
to  the  muzzle  and  fired  at  an  extreme  angle. 

The  first  form  of  hand  firearms  to  be  used  was  a  combi- 
nation of  firearm  with  another  weapon,  its  effectiveness 
depending  largely  upon  its  unexpected  firing,  taking  the 
enemy  unawares.  With  this  same  intent  double-barrelled 


FIREARMS.  2  I  7 

and  repeating  weapons  were  employed.  Frearms  were  com- 
bined with  daggers,  swords,  axes,  and  shields,  and  other  forms 
even  were  devised  for  rendering  the  explosive  weapon  doubly 
destructive  in  the  hands  of  the  warrior.  The  consternation 
produced  by  the  sudden  and  unlooked-for  discharge  of  fire- 
arms probably  contributed  no  less  to  their  success  than  the 
actual  effect  of  the  projectile  hurled.  The  hand  firearm  seems 
thus  to  have  been  first  introduced  as  a  concealed  weapon, 
pistols  being  even  inserted  in  the  handles  of  whips  carried  by 
Neapolitan  brigands  and  French  postillions. 

The  culverin  or  hand  cannon  consisted  of  a  handle  of  wood 
or  iron,  to  which  was  attached  a  small  tube  one-half  or  three- 
fourths  of  an  inch  in  internal  diameter.  These  were  used 
largely  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  They  are 
said  to  have  been  employed  in  the  army  of  Edward  IV,  after 
his  landing  at  Ravenspur,  Yorkshire,  and  hand  culverins 
figured  prominently  in  the  siege  of  Berwick  in  1821.  The 
smallest  hand  culverins  were  about  four  feet  in  length,  hav- 
ing a  weight  of  about  fifteen  pounds.  These  were  used  by 
cavalrymen,  while  the  larger  weapons,  weighing  sometimes  as 
much  as  sixty  pounds,  were  fired  by  foot  soldiers.  These 
large  culverins  were  always  supported  upon  a  forked  rest, 
and  an  attendant  called  a  "varlet"  accompanied  the  culver- 
iner  to  assist  in  firing  the  piece.  A  smaller  and  improved 
form  of  culverin  was  the  arquebus,  which  was  capable  of  be- 
ing operated  by  one  man.  This  was  first  used  at  the  battle 
of  Morat,  in  1476.  In  the  matchlock  arquebus  a  hinged  lid 
covered  the  flash-pan,  and  the  serpentin  or  lever  which  held 
the  burning  match  was  forcibly  thrown  upon  the  touch  pow- 
der in  the  flash-pan  by  means  of  a  spring,  but  ordinarily  the 
burning  slow-match  was  lowered  by  pulling  the  lower  end  of 


2  I  8  FIREARMS. 

the  serpentin  toward  the  stock.  Descended  from  the  match- 
lock arquebus  were  the  hagbut,  hackbutt,  hackenbuse,  and 
musket,  the  latter  being  formerly  a  heavier  weapon  than  the 
modern  form,  carrying  a  double  bullet. 

The  loading  of  these  early  firearms  was  a  slow  and  difficult 
performance,  necessitating  a  deliberation  in  firing  incredible 
to  modern  combatants.  At  Kissingen  in  1636  and  at  Witten 
Mergen  in  1638  seven  shots  were  said  to  have  been  fired  in 
eight  hours.  This  slowness  of  action  was  said  to  be  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  musketeers  were  compelled  to  load  the 
instrument  while  the  forked  rest  was  attached  by  a  thong  to 
the  wrist,  and  that  during  this  proceeding  they  were  contin- 
ually harassed  by  the  opposing  cavalry  and  archers. 

With  the  invention  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury in  Germany  of  the  wheel-lock,  the  use  of  firearms  for 
sporting  purposes  was  more  generally  adopted.  The  wheel- 
lock  originated  from  a  gun,  in  which  pieces  of  pyrites  were 
placed  near  the  flash-pan  and  ignited  by  the  friction  produced 
by  a  file  rubbed  against  them.  In  this  weapon  a  spring 
pressing  against  the  end  of  the  lever  opposite  to  the  one  in 
which  the  flint  is  fired  holds  the  flint  in  the  flash-pan.  A 
grooved  wheel,  with  serrated  edges,  is  revolved  in  the  flash- 
pan  by  means  of  a  chain  and  a  flat  or  V  spring.  This  wheel 
was  wound  up  as  is  a  watch  with  a  movable  key.  Upon  the 
pulling  of  the  trigger,  it  was  released,  and  rotating  swiftly 
against  the  flint,  it  produced  ignition.  The  wheel-locks  were 
not  used  extensively  out  of  Germany  and  Italy,  but  the  Saxon 
collection  of  these  weapons  in  the  British  Museum  shows 
that  their  invention  was  at  one  time  considered  of  great 
importance. 

The  flint-lock,  which  originated  in  Spain  as  a  cheap  substi- 


FIREARMS.  219 

tute  for  the  wheel-lock,  was  said  to  have  been  produced  by 
marauders,  who  dreaded  exposure  of  their  presence  by  the 
burning  match  of  the  arquebus.  It  was  introduced  into  the 
English  army  in  the  reign  of  William  III,  where  it  continued 
in  use  until  1840. 

For  some  time  after  the  cannon  was  invented,  it  consisted 
of  a  weapon  with  an  extremely  small  bore,  scarcely  larger 
than  were  the  muskets  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Leaden 
bullets  were  discharged  by  these.  Had  it  not  been  for  their 
heavy  workmanship,  necessitating  small  carriages  for  convey- 
ing them,  they  would  doubtless  have  been  used  as  hand  fire- 
arms. Cannon  have  not  a  common  history,  although  a  com- 
mon origin  with  pocket  pistols.  Various  materials  have  been 
used  in  the  construction  of  cannon.  In  1378,  at  Augsburg, 
they  were  cast  of  copper  and  tin  alloy.  They  have  been 
made  of  hollowed  blocks  of  stone,  of  wood,  of  rope,  of 
leather,  of  papier-mache.  In  fact,  almost  every  pure  and 
alloyed  metal  which  it  is  possible  to  forge  has  been  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  these  weapons.  They  have  even  con- 
sisted, as  at  Alexandria,  Constantinople,  and  Gibraltar,  of 
cylindrical  holes  bored  in  the  solid  rock,  filled  with  explosives, 
and  used  to  fire  projectiles. 

In  early  warfare  cannon  were  used  chiefly  in  besieging 
cities  and  forts,  their  weight,  combined  with  the  poor  roads, 
making  transportation  difficult,  as  well  as  the  inefficiency  of 
the  early  machines  themselves,  rendering  them  of  slight 
utility  as  field  pieces.  When  used  in  battle  they  were  fired 
but  once. 

The  cannon  developed  on  the  one  hand  into  small,  portable 
weapons,  hand  firearms,  and,  on  the  other,  into  the  enormous 
instruments  used  in  the  defense  of  fortifications.  One  of 


22O  FIREARMS. 

these  ancient  instruments  is  the  "  Mons,"  of  Edinburgh  Cas- 
tle, which  weighs  nearly  four  tons,  and  fired  a  stone  shot  of 
over  three  hundred  pounds.  The  powder  chamber  of  this 
early  cannon  exhibits  a  principle,  the  reverse  of  the  modern 
one,  of  enlarged  powder  chamber,  being  of  a  less  diameter 
than  the  bore,  resembling  in  this  respect  the  mortar.  Can- 
non similar  to  this  were  manufactured  at  Ghent,  in  the 
fifteenth  century. 

Field  pieces  were  not  greatly  developed  until  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  an  improved  finish  of  the  interior  was  attained, 
allowing  a  long  and  uniform  range  and  accuracy  of  aim.  Im- 
provements in  cannon  and  quick-firing  guns  have  depended 
less  upon  the  genius  of  inventors  than  on  the  evolution  of 
mechanical  science,  which  has  led  to  accurate  workmanship 
and  ability  to  work  large  masses  of  material.  Improvements 
in  explosives  in  the  quality  of  the  metal,  and  in  the  ma- 
chinery available  have  rendered  possible  the  production  of 
field  pieces  of  prodigious  size.  The  limit  in  this  direction 
would  seem  to  be  rather  in  the  cost  of  manufacture  than  in 
human  ability  to  construct  them. 

To  impart  steadiness  to  a  projectile  and  increase  its  accu- 
racy is  the  problem  which  scientific  artillerists  for  a  long  time 
strove  to  solve  in  the  construction  of  their  weapons.  The 
invention  of  rifling  secured  the  attainment  of  these  ends. 
Rifling  consists  in  the  cutting  of  grooves  in  the  chamber  of 
the  gun  barrel,  which,  by  gripping  the  ball,  cause  it  to  rotate 
round  its  axis,  and  thus  to  be  ejected  from  the  barrel  more 
closely  in  line  with  the  axis  of  the  bore. 

The  first  rifle  known  to  be  used  was  in  1563.  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century  Augustus  Kutter,  of  Nurem- 
burg,  invented  a  rifle  with  grooves  in  a  spiral  form,  and  in 


FIREARMS.  221 

1662  the  Bishop  of  Munster  originated  the  idea  of  elongated 
projectiles  for  use  in  such  rifles. 

Rifles  were  adopted  into  the  British  service  in  the  year 
1800,  the  old  Ninety-fifth  regiment,  afterward  known  as  the 
Rifle  Brigade,  being  armed  with  Baker's  rifles,  so  named 
from  their  inventor.  This  rifle  was  used  by  British  soldiery 
until  about  1835,  when  it  was  replaced  by  the  "Brunswick" 
rifle,  invented  by  Major  Berner,  in  the  Brunswick  army. 
With  this  rifle  the  percussion  lock  first  appeared  in  the 
British  service.  By  1842  all  the  prominent  countries  of 
Europe  had  adopted  some  form  of  rifle  in  their  armies. 
About  this  date  the  Prussians  discarded  the  old  smooth-bore 
musket  and  armed  their  militia  with  the  celebrated  needle 
gun,  "  Zundnadelgewehr."  This  weapon  is  a  bolt  gun,  with 
the  needle  contained  in  the  bolt.  On  firing  the  gun  the  needle 
is  pressed  through  the  powder  charge,  and  strikes  the  cap  in 
the  rear  of  a  papier-mache  plug,  so  that  the  charge  is 
ignited  from  the  front,  it  being  thought  that  by  this  means 
the  bullet  encased  in  the  plug  will  be  less  likely  to  be  detached 
from  its  case.  The  plug  receives  the  rifling  and  imparts  rota- 
tion to  the  bullet. 

A  Frenchman,  Captain  Minie,  in  1849  invented  the  rifle 
known  as  the  Minie  rifle.  This  rifle  marked  a  change  in  the 
form  of  bullet  used,  the  spherical  bullet  being  in  this  super- 
seded by  one  of  a  cylindro-conoidal  form.  This  weapon  was 
speedily  adopted  by  the  French  army,  and  later  by  the 
English.  The  English  army  which  was  sent  to  the  Crimean 
war  armed  with  this  rifle,  possessing  in  its  use  a  great  advan- 
tage over  their  Russian  foes. 

Numerous  inventions  have,  from  time  to  time,  improved  on 
the  rifle  as  originally  constructed,  until  it  has  at  the  present 


222  FIREARMS. 

day  a  marvelously  intricate  and  effective  weapon.  The 
magazine  rifle  was  an  important  advance  in  artillery.  In  this 
a  magazine  or  case  is  attached  to  the  gun,  being  worked  by 
a  mechanism  actuated  by  the  breech  action,  by  means  of 
which  four  or  more  cartridges  are  fed  consecutively  into  the 
gun  barrel.  In  the  Turko-Russian  war  in  1877,  the  great 
efficiency  of  this  rifle  was  demonstrated.  During  the  Russian 
assault  before  Plevna,  the  Turks,  armed  with  Winchester 
repeating  rifles,  slew  the  Russians  by  hundreds  as  they  ad- 
vanced to  the  assault.  The  rifle  at  present  used  by  the 
United  States  troops  is  the  Lee  magazine  rifle,  but  the  Win- 
chester and  other  small  bore  repeaters  are  also  in  use  by  a 
part  of  the  army. 

The  carbine  is  a  short  rifle,  precisely  like  the  infantry  rifle, 
with  the  exception  of  being  a  foot  shorter,  and  chambered 
for  a  smaller  cartridge.  All  cavalry  soldiers  in  the  British 
army  carry  Martini-Henry  carbines  in  leather  cases  for  use 
when  on  foot.  Gunners  of  garrison  batteries  have  the  same 
weapon  with  a  sword  bayonet  to  fit  on  to  it,  both  of  which 
are  strapped  to  the  foot-board  of  each  limber  in  field  bat- 
teries. 

The  pistol,  the  smallest  form  of  firearm,  was  first  made  in 
1540,  by  Camillio  Vetelli,  at  Pistoia.  It  was  evolved  from  a 
small  hand  cannon  called  "  poitrinal,"  and  was  at  first  used 
as  a  concealed  weapon,  being  first  adopted  for  military  pur- 
poses by  the  German  Ritters.  The  pistol  figured  in  the 
defense  of  the  French  by  the  Ritters  in  1554.  In  the  eigh- 
teenth century  double  and  four-barrelled  pistols  were  com- 
monly used,  and  the  revolving  pistol  preceded  the  invention 
of  the  revolver  of  modern  times.  For  military  and  police 
purposes  in  civilized  countries  the  revolver  has  superseded 


FIREARMS.  223 

the  pistol.  The  duelling  pistol,  a  model  of  workmanship, 
and  the  twenty-pace  pistol  firing  a  large  bullet  with  a  small 
charge  of  powder,  as  made  in  Paris  at  the  present  time,  are 
not  equalled  as  weapons  of  precision  by  any  firearm  manu- 
factured. 

The  revolver  is  a  firearm  in  which  the  barrels  or  chambers 
revolve  upon  a  common  centre,  and  are  in  turn  fired  by  one 
lock  mechanism.  The  first  appearance  of  revolving  weapons 
was  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  earliest  form  con- 
sisted of  hand  guns  of  two  or  more  barrels  invented  to  turn 
upon  an  axis,  the  powder  pan  being  brought  successively 
under  the  action  of  the  lock.  The  barrels  were  turned  by 
hand,  instead  of  being  rotated  by  pulling  a  trigger.  A 
Parisian  gunsmith,  Le  Norman,  produced  a  weapon  in  1815 
with  five  barrels.  Another  was  later  invented,  having  seven, 
but  these  were  neither  of  them  found  practicable.  The  fa- 
mous Colt  revolver  was  invented  by  Colonel  Samuel  Colt  in 
1835.  This  has  a  rifle  barrel,  a  revolving  cylinder  with  six 
or  seven  chambers,  and  a  level  trigger  which  operates  the 
mechanism  devised  to  turn  the  chambers  and  fire  the 
weapon. 

Since  killing  is  not  only  a  serious,  a  tragical  business,  but 
is  also  supposed  to  be  a  sport,  special  classes  of  firearms 
have  been  constructed  for  the  use  of  the  sportsman.  The 
term  gun,  although  having  formerly  a  wide  range  of  applica- 
tion, is  now  especially  employed  to  distinguish  the  sporting 
gun  from  the  military  rifle.  Firearms  for  sporting  purposes 
are  the  shot-gun  and  the  rifle,  the  latter  for  large  game 
shooting. 

Sportsmen  in  Germany  in  the  sixteenth  century  used  hail 
shot,  and  after  the  invention  of  the  arquebus,  the  wheel-lock 


224  FIREARMS. 

came  into  general  use  for  sportsmen.  The  first  double- 
barrelled  guns  were  manufactured  for  use  in  war,  but  Italy, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  produced  guns  with  two  barrels 
side  by  side.  The  art  of  shooting  on  the  wing  was  first 
.attempted  about  1580.  With  the  development  of  better 
forged  barrels  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
.the  fowling  piece,  a  light,  double-barrelled  gun,  was  made 
possible,  and  this  instrument  has  continued  to  increase  in 
; strength  and  lightness. 

o  o 

The  sporting  rifle  dates  back  to  the  time  of  the  wheel-lock 
hunting  weapons  of  Germany.  It  is  peculiarly  adapted  for 
large  game  shooting,  where  the  main  essential  is  the  rapid 
firing  of  a  second  shot,  together  with  a  paralyzing  effect  from 
the  bullet.  In  a  military  weapon,  on  the  other  hand,  length 
of  range,  with  shots  following  each  other  in  quick  succession 
are  the  great  desiderata.  The  average  muzzle  velocity  of 
the  military  rifle  is  fifteen  hundred  feet  per  second,  while 
that  of  the  express  or  sporting  rifle  is  two  thousand  feet  per 
second,  force  of  impact  being  sought  in  the  latter  rather 
than  accuracy  and  extent  of  range.  The  largest  military  rifle 
may  approach  this  greatest  velocity,  but  the  force  at  impact 
is  still  less  than  that  of  the  sporting  rifle  projectile. 

The  best  military  small  arms,  rifles,  may  be  used  at  a 
range  of  two  thousand  yards,  and  the  best  sporting  rifle  at 
three  hundred  yards.  Two-thirds  of  the  charge  of  a  shot- 
gun will  be  deposited  within  a  circle  thirty  inches  in  diameter 
at  a  range  of  forty  yards,  and  the  last  shot  of  the  charge  will 
be  found  not  over  ten  feet  behind  the  first  reaching  the 
target  at  that  distance.  The  average  shot-gun  has  a  range 
-of  about  forty-five  yards,  while  the  range  of  wild- fowling 
guns  with  seven  shot,  is  about  one  hundred  and  forty  yards. 


FIREARMS.  225 

The  modern  shot-gun  is  invariably  breech-loading,  and 
usually  upon  the  "  drop-down  "  principle.  The  welding  of 
shot-gun  barrels  is  an  interesting  and  difficult  performance. 
They  are  generally  hand-forged  from  a  rod  composed  of  two 
different  varieties  of  iron,  or  of  iron  and  steel.  It  is  neces- 
sary that  one  of  the  metals  should  be  softer  than  the  other,, 
the  excellence  of  the  completed  barrel  depending  upon  the 
greater  proportion  of  the  harder  metal  used  in  its  construc- 
tion. There  are  many  different  methods  of  twisting  together 
these  two  different  kinds  of  metal,  the  Belgians  being  espe- 
cially expert  at  this,  combining  in  some  cases  as  many  as  six 
different  twisted  rods  to  form  a  single  riband.  The  English, 
barrels  are,  however,  of  greater  hardness  than  those  of  the 
Belgians,  and  are  generally  considered  superior  to  the 
latter. 

Shot-guns  are  now  manufactured  in  much  lighter  form 
than  when  breech-loaders  first  came  into  use,  and  shorter 
barrels  are  employed  with  no  loss  of  shooting  power  or  ap- 
parent increase  in  the  volume  of  recoil.  Smokeless  explo- 
sives are  in  general  use  for  shot-guns  in  all  countries.  The 
best  class  of  shot-guns  are  now  highly  perfected,  and  little 
further  improvement  may  be  looked  for  in  them,  unless 
something  new  in  the  form  of  explosives  be  invented  or  some 
new  means  of  using  shot-guns  be  developed. 

The  Continental  gun-makers  were  formerly  considered 
superior  to  the  English,  but  the  English  guns  now  rank  above 
all  others,  recent  English  inventions  having  effected  great 
changes  in  the  arms  of  that  country.  The  Italian  and  Spanish 
smiths  have  been  particularly  noted  for  their  superior  work- 
manship in  the  manufacture  of  firearms,  as  in  that  of  other 
implements  wrought  of  metal.  The  most  curious  arms  were 
15 


226  FIREARMS. 

those  produced  at  Paris,  Amsterdam,  Liege,  Hanover,  and 
Lisbon. 

Since  it  is  the  demand  for  an  article  that  regulates  the 
supply,  the  impetus  given  to  the  invention  and  manufacture 
of  firearms  has  been  the  wars  in  which  nation  pitted  against 
nation  has  had  recourse  to  all  that  science  could  discover 
and  genius  could  originate  to  secure  the  balance  of  might. 
The  wars  of  the  Middle  Ages  did  much  to  promote  the  in- 
vention and  to  improve  the  existing  forms  of  military  weapons, 
while  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870-71  has  resulted  in  the 
manufacture  in  France  and  Germany  of  the  best  repeating 
rifles  in  the  world. 

The  most  important  improvements  have  been  in  the  line 
of  the  ignition  of  the  charge  of  the  explosive.  The  French 
chemists  of  the  eighteenth  century  produced  fulminating  or 
detonating  powders,  and  their  experiments  led  to  the  inven- 
tion by  an  Englishman  about  the  year  1800  of  a  highly 
sensitive  explosive  compounded  of  fulminate  of  mercury  and 
saltpetre.  It  was,  somewhat  strangely,  to  a  Scotch  clergyman, 
Alexander  J.  Forsyth,  that  the  origin  in  1807  of  the  detona- 
ting principle  for  exploding  gunpowder  in  firearms  was  due. 
A  French  invention  of  much  importance  was  the  cartridge 
case  containing  its  own  means  of  iofnitinof.  The  success  of 

O  t>  O 

modern  breech-loading  fire  small  arms  is  largely  due  to  this 
instrument,  which  is  used  for  all  quick-firing  machine  guns 
as  well  as  for  some  of  the  smaller  cannon.  The  making  of 
firearms  by  machinery  was  introduced  into  England  in  1856. 
As  inventions  have  changed  the  conditions  of  industrial 
activity,  so  they  have  rendered  modern  warfare  a  widely 
different  thing  from  what  war  was  when  men  fought  with 
swords  or  axes  hand  to  hand.  The  battle  of  Homer  or  Virgil 

o 


FIREARMS.  227 

has  few  points  in  common  with  a  military  contest  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  one  view  those  primitive 
encounters  were  more  brutal,  more  repellant,  when,  from 
behind  a  shield,  the  warrior  hacked  viciously  at  the  body  of 
his  enemy.  But  in  the  extent  of  its  results  the  long-range 
battle  of  to-day  is  infinitely  more  terrible.  The  Krupp  gun, 
with  its  marvelous  capacity  and  range,  the  fearful  inventions 
for  the  destruction  of  cities  and  fleets,  the  deadly  bomb — all 
t^qd  to  make  modern  war  an  almost  unthinkable  horror. 

YThis  greatly  multiplied  destroying  power  of  military 
weapons,  by  means  of  which  hundreds  of  men  may  be  mown 
down  like  grain  with  a  single  shot,  might  well  lead  one  to 
question  the  advantages  of  such  an  outcome  of  modern  in- 
ventive genius  did  not  their  very  terribleness  contain  in  itself 
the  reason  for  their  own  annihilation.  Such  wholesale  slaugh- 
ter of  human  beings  cannot  but  be  revolting  to  the  modern 
humane  sentiment,  to  the  higher  regard  for  human  life  which 
a  higher  civilization  has  inculcated.  Face  to  face  with  the 
horrible  desolation  which  these  engines  of  war  carry  in  their 
wake,  nations  can  scarcely  fail  to  hesitate  before  rashly  pre- 
cipitating a  war  which  must  result  in  such  wholesale 
slaughter.  The  present  tendency  toward  arbitration  in  the 
settlement  of  international  difficulties  rather  than  the  rushing 
headlong  into  war  on  any  trivial  provocation  is  no  doubt  due 
largely  to  this  greatly  augmented  killing  capacity  of  latter- 
day  implements  of  warfare^  These  very  triumphs  of  human 
inventive  genius,  which  seem  to  menace  the  peace  of  the 
world,  may  themselves  greatly  hasten  the  day  when 

"  The  war-drum  throbs  no  longer,  and  the  battle-flags  are  furled 
In  the  parliament  of  peace,  the  federation  of  the  world." 


BANKS  AND  EXCHANGES. 

HE  business  of  banking  is  an  extremely  old  one,  or, 
more  correctly  speaking,   some  of  the  functions  of 
1       banks  have  been  exercised  from  earliest  historic  times. 
In   the  republics  of  Greece  and  Rome    there  were 
persons  who  received  money  on  deposit,  paid  it  out  on  pres- 
entation of  drafts  drawn  by  their  clients,  and  derived  their 
profits  from  investment  of  this  money.     The  origin  of  what 
might  properly  be  termed  a  banking  system  dates,  however, 
from  the  establishment  of  the  bank  of  Venice,  in  the  year 
1171. 

This  bank  owed  its  existence  to  the  wars  with  both  East- 
ern and  Western  Europe,  which  had  brought  great  disorder 
into  the  financial  condition  of  Venice.  To  obtain  means  for 
carrying  on  these  wars,  the  government  was  led  to  order,  as 
a  war  measure,  a  forced  loan  of  one  per  cent,  from  every 
citizen,  upon  which  loan  the  State  promised  to  pay  an  interest 
of  five  per  cent.  To  conduct  the  business  consequent  upon 
this  transaction,  a  body  of  commissioners  was  appointed  who 
should  issue  to  the  citizens  stock  certificates  for  the  sums  paid 
by  them.  These  certificates  might  be  sold  or  transferred  at 
will.  The  Italian  word  for  denominating  this  loan  was 
"  monte  vecchio  ;"  but  as  the  Germans  at  that  time  possessed 
the  mastery  of  a  great  part  of  Italy,  the  German  word 
"bank"  came  also  to  be  applied  in  common  usage.  The 
228 


BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES.  229 

bank  of  Venice  was  thus  the  origin  of  the  funding  system,  or 
the  system  of  public  debts.  It  was  not  until  several  centuries 
after  its  establishment  that  it  began  to  transact  what  is  now 
called  banking  business.  This  bank  continued  in  operation 
until  the  overthrow  of  the  republic,  in  1797,  by  the  revolu- 
tionary army  of  France. 

The  function  of  these  earliest  banks  was  mainly  "finan- 
ciering ;"  their  purpose  to  float  loans  for  the  government. 
The  banks  of  Venice,  Amsterdam,  Hamburg,  and  others  were 
founded  on  what  is  now  called  the  currency  principle.  This 
principle  is,  in  brief,  that  a  bank  should  in  no  case  issue 
notes  greater  in  amount  than  the  specie  nvhich  it  has  in  re- 
serve, it  being  claimed  by  the  advocates  of  this  principle  that 
any  extension  of  a  bank's  credit  beyond  this  limit  must  re- 
sult in  a  depreciation  of  the  currency. 

The  second  function  to  be  historically  developed  by  the 
banks  was  the  returning  to  the  people  good  money  in  place 
of  clipped  and  diversified  coins.  The  cities  of  Venice,  Ham- 
burg, and  Amsterdam  being  the  centres  of  an  extensive 
foreign  commerce,  large  quantities  of  foreign  coins,  often 
mutilated  and  debased  in  value,  naturally  flowed  into  the 
money  circulation.  To  obviate  the  inconvenience  caused  by 
this  multiform  and  uncertain  currency,  banks  of  deposit  were 
established  by  the  authorities  in  each  of  these  cities,  the  first 
being  at  Amsterdam,  which  should  receive  both  foreign  coin 
and  the  light  and  worn  coins  of  the  country,  at  their  intrinsic 
value  in  the  standard  money  of  the  country,  making  only  a 
slight  deduction  for  defraying  the  expense  of  coinage  and 
the  necessary  expenses  of  management.  For  the  moneys 
received,  the  banks  gave  to  the  depositors  credit  in  the  form 
of  notes,  or  by  an  entry  in  their  books. 


230  BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES. 

These  bank  credits  assured  a  uniform  standard  of  pay- 
ment, and  laws  were  enacted  requiring  all  bills  above  a  cer- 
tain amount  upon  these  cities  to  be  paid  in  these  credits,  to 
which  the  name  of  bank  money  was  given.  These,  being 
always  exchangeable  for  good  money,  came  naturally  to  be 
at  a  premium,  as  compared  with  the  clipped  and  debased 
coins  forming  the  current  money,  this  premium  being  some- 
times as  high  as  nine  per  cent.  It  must  be  observed  that 
these  credits  of  the  Amsterdam  and  other  banks,  while  called 
"  bank  money,"  were  widely  different  from  the  bank  money 
of  our  day.  In  the  first  place,  they  did  not  circulate  from 
hand  to  hand  as  mediums  of  exchange,  and,  secondly,  they 
were,  never  issued  in  excess  of  the  metallic  money  in  the 
vaults  of  the  banks. 

Banks  such  as  these  have  never  had  an  existence  in  Eng- 
land or  America.  The  banking  system  of  England  had  its 
origin  during  the  civil  war,  in  1697.  The  goldsmiths  of  Lon- 
don began  to  receive  the  gold  of  merchants  on  deposit,  prom- 
ising to  repay  it  on  demand,  with  interest  at  six  per  cent,  for 
the  use  of  it.  In  exchange  for  the  money  received  the  gold- 
smiths issued  to  their  depositors  credits  to  an  equal  amount. 
To  enable  them  to  do  this,  they  were  obliged  to  invest  the 
money  so  that  it  should  return  them  a  profit.  They  discov- 
ered that,  in  order  to  meet  the  demands  upon  them  by  de- 
positors, it  was  not  necessary  to  keep  on  hand  specie  to  the 
full  amount ;  that,  in  fact,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  about 
one-tenth  that  sum  was  sufficient,  since,  while  part  of  their 
customers  might  on  a  certain  day  choose  to  present  their 
credits  and  demand  their  money,  a  corresponding  number 
were  equally  likely  to  pay  in  coin  equivalent  in  value  to  that 
paid  out.  They  therefore  invested  the  surplus  funds  in  their 


BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES.  23! 

possession  by  buying  commercial  debts,  or  bills  of  exchange, 
which,  being  payable  in  two  or  three  months,  soon  returned 
them  a  profit  on  their  investments.  These  bills  were  bought 
not  always  with  actual  cash  in  their  hands,  but  sometimes  by 
giving  in  return  for  them  promissory  notes. 

The  bankers  continued  till  about  the  year  1772  to  issue 
promissory  notes  payable  to  bearer  on  demand.  About  this 
time  they  introduced  a  new  method  of  purchasing  bills. 
When  they  received  bills  from  their  customers  to  discount, 
the  bankers  would  give  them  in  place  of  promissory  notes,  a 
credit  equal  to  the  value  of  the  bill,  on  their  books,  and  would 
issue  to  the  creditors  printed  forms  which  were  called  checks, 
which  were  bills  of  exchange  payable  to  bearer  on  demand. 
These  checks  were  put  in  circulation  like  bank-notes,  and  a 
banker  was  forced  to  pay  a  customer's  checks  to  the  extent 
of  the  money  deposited.  The  modern  system  of  banking  by 
means  of  checks  is  the  same  in  principle  as  that  in  which  bank- 
notes are  issued,  the  difference  being  one  of  form  only.  The 
bank-notes  were  on  the  face  of  them  obligations  of  the  banker 
to  pay  the  money  named,  while  checks  are  not  direct  obliga- 
tions of  the  banker.  For  this  reason  when  checks  are  trans- 
ferred from  one  person  to  another  the  transferrer  is  usually 
required  to  indorse  them.  Bank-notes  usually  pass  with  no 
indorsement. 

Of  the  famous  banks  whose  history  forms  a  part  of  the 
history  of  the  country  in  which  they  are  established,  the  Bank 
of  England  is  perhaps  the  most  noted.  This  bank,  like 
that  of  Venice,  grew  out  of  necessity  for  government  aid  in 
time  of  financial  depression.  In  1694,  during  the  reign  of 
William  and  Mary,  the  war  with  France  compelled  England 
to  devise  some  new  means  of  meeting  the  heavy  debt  which 


232  BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES. 

the  military  expenses  were  constantly  augmenting.  The  idea 
occurred  to  William  Patterson  that  the  government,  which 
had  been  paying  from  twenty  to  forty  per  cent,  interest  on 
loans,  would  grant  almost  unlimited  privileges  to  an  institu- 
tion which  should  advance  it  money  at  reasonable  rates. 
Following  out  his  suggestions  a  bill  was  finally  carried  by 
the  government  for  the  foundation  of  a  Bank  of  England, 
Within  ten  days  after  the  books  were  open  for  subscriptions, 
so  popular  was  the  idea  with  the  people  that  the  entire  sum 
required,  one  million  two  hundred  thousand  pounds,  was  sub- 
scribed. 

The  bank  was  opened  for  business  on  January  ist,  1695, 
the  subscribers  being  incorporated  into  a  company  denomi- 
nated "  The  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land." The  charter  was  granted  for  eleven  years,  but  this 
was  extended  in  1697.  This  bank  discounted  bills  of  ex- 
change at  from  three  to  six  per  cent.  The  management  of 
the  entire  public  debt  of  England  was  placed  in  the  hands  of 
this  bank,  for  which  service  it  received  compensation  from 
time  to  time.  It  paid  also  certain  pensions  and  annuities. 

After  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  the  country 
entered  upon  a  period  of  great  commercial  and  industrial 
prosperity.  As  is  customary  at  such  times,  people  invested 
recklessly  and  multiplied  their  obligations  beyond  all  possi- 
bility of  fulfillment.  The  number  of  banks  increased  rapidly 
in  England,  and  the  result  of  the  undue  inflation  of  prices 
and  credits  was  a  commercial  panic ;  exchanges  turned 
against  England,  and  the  pressure  on  the  bank  was  such  that 
in  1797  it  was  compelled  to  suspend  specie  payments.  This 
was  regarded  at  the  time  as  a  temporary  measure,  but  the 
bank  did  not  resume  the  payment  of  specie  until  May  of  the 


BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES.  233 

year  1823.  Resumption  was  at  that  time  accomplished  only 
with  widespread  disaster  to  the  commercial  world,  which 
could  not  but  be  affected  by  the  calling  in  by  England  of  so 
large  an  amount  of  gold  as  would  enable  the  bank  to  re- 
sume. 

By  the  bank  charter  act  of  1844,  the  Bank  of  England  was 
prohibited  from  issuing  notes  beyond  a  certain  limit  without 
an  equal  deposit  of  gold.  The  operation  of  this  law  has  been, 
however,  three  times  suspended,  the  last  occasion  being  in 
1866,  when  the  rate  of  discount  was  raised  by  the  bank  to 
ten  per  cent. 

During  the  war  of  the  Revolution  in  the  United  States  the 
country  was  extremely  poor,  quite  destitute  of  the  precious 
metals.  The  government  experienced  great  difficulty  in  get- 
ting funds  to  carry  on  the  war.  Congress  in  1775  attempted 
to  meet  this  exigency  by  an  issue  of  two  million  dollars  of 
paper  money,  but  these  issues  soon  depreciated  until  they 
became  valueless. 

In  1781,  Robert  Morris,  the  celebrated  financier  of  Penn- 
sylvania, submitted  to  Congress  a  plan  of  a  national  bank. 
The  provisions  for  this  bank,  as  outlined  by  him,  were  that 
it  should  have  a  capital  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
shares  of  four  hundred  dollars  each,  and  should  be  under  the 
management  of  twelve  directors.  On  December  3ist  an 
ordinance  passed  Congress  for  the  incorporation  of  this  bank, 
and  it  commenced  business  in  1782.  Of  the  capital  of  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars  required,  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
four  thousand  dollars  had  been  subscribed  by  the  govern- 
ment. The  first  president  of  the  bank  was  Thomas  Willing. 
This  bank  became  an  important  auxiliary  in  aid  of  the  finances 
of  the  government,  and  continued  to  render  valuable  assist- 


234  BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES. 

ance  until  the  close  of  the  war.  This  institution  was  also 
incorporated  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  on  April  i8th, 
1782.  Owing  to  some  disagreement  between  the  govern- 
ment of  Pennsylvania  and  the  bank  in  1785,  the  State  re- 
pealed the  charter,  but  the  bank  continued  under  the  charter 
of  the  central  government.  In  1787,  the  bank  was  rechar- 
tered  by  Pennsylvania,  and  the  charter  has  been  from  time 
to  time  extended. 

On  the  organization  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  Alexander  Hamilton,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
in  his  report  on  finances  urged  upon  Congress  the  importance 
of  establishing  a  bank  of  the  United  States.  This  proposal 
of  Hamilton's  met  with  opposition  in  Congress,  but  it  finally 
passed  the  House  in  February,  1791,  having  previously 
passed  the  Senate.  The  capital  of  this  bank  was  ten  mil- 
lion dollars,  to  be  divided  into  twenty-five  thousand  shares 
of  four  hundred  dollars  each.  The  subscribers  were  incor- 
porated as  "  The  President,  Directors,  and  Company  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States."  Subscriptions,  except  those  of 
the  United  States,  were  payable  one-fourth  in  gold  and  silver, 
and  the  remaining  three-fourths  in  six  per  cent,  stocks  of  the 
United  States.  The  bank  was  chartered  until  March  4th, 
1811.  It  was  authorized  to  hold  property  of  all  kinds  to  the 
amount  of  fifteen  million  dollars,  and  was  to  be  under  the 
control  of  a  board  of  twenty-five  directors,  who  should  choose 
the  other  officers  of  the  bank. 

This  bank  was  established  at  Philadelphia,  with  branches 
at  different  points.  In  1808,  application  was  made  to  Con- 
gress for  a  renewal  of  the  charter.  Mr.  Galatin,  the  distin- 
guished financier,  at  that  time  at  the  head  of  the  treasury 
department,  reported  to  Congress  a  memorial  in  favor  of 


BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES.  235 

such  renewal.  Mr.  Galatin  suggested  changes  in  a  new  act 
of  incorporation,  giving  sound  and  excellent  reasons  for  the 
re-incorporation  of  the  bank.  The  bill  was  defeated  on 
February  2oth,  1811,  by  the  casting  vote  of  Vice-President 
Clinton.  The  bank  was  therefore  obliged  to  close  up  its 
business. 

The  second  bank  of  the  United  States  was  established  in 
1816.  During  the  war  of  1812-15,  the  government  had 
found  itself  repeatedly  embarrassed  for  want  of  money,  and 
had  frequently  had  recourse  to  the  banks  for  aid.  On  the 
recommendation  of  Alexander  Dallas,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  a  bill  passed  Congress  providing  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  bank,  the  charter  of  which  was  to  extend  to  March, 
1836.  The  capital  of  the  bank  was  to  be  thirty-five  million 
dollars.  In  1836,  the  bank  ceased  to  act  under  the  charter 
of  the  United  States,  but  continued,  with  the  same  capital, 
under  a  charter  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1839,  the 
bank  was  compelled  to  suspend  specie  payments.  It  re- 
sumed payments  in  January,  1840,  to  finally  suspend  in  Feb- 
ruary of  the  same  year. 

Prior  to  the  passage  by  Congress,  in  1864,  of  an  act  "  to 
provide  a  national  currency,"  there  were  many  State  banks 
in  operation  in  all  the  States.  These  banks  received  their 
charters  from  the  States,  and  there  were  of  these  State 
banks,  in  1856-57,  no  fewer  than  fourteen  hundred.  The 
over-issues  of  many  of  these  banks,  combined  with  the  un- 
certainty which  must  naturally  arise  from  so  many  sources 
of  issue,  had  led  to  a  disordered  condition  of  the  currency. 
The  public  had,  indeed,  by  the  experience  of  several  serious 
financial  crises,  been  educated  to  somewhat  sounder  views  on 
the  subject  of  money,  and  a  wiser  understanding  of  the  princi- 


236  BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES. 

pies  underlying  a  safe  banking  system,  but  much  still  re- 
mained to  be  done  before  a  perfected  currency  should  be 
secured. 

The  emergencies  of  the  Civil  War  led  to  the  initiation  by 
Secretary  Chase  of  a  movement  which  resulted  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  present  banking  system  of  the  United  States. 
This  system  was  modeled  on  that  inaugurated  in  New  York 
in  1838,  all  notes  being  secured  by  an  abundant  deposit  at 
the  Treasury  Department  in  Washington  of  United  States 
stocks.  The  Treasury  was  to  sell  to  the  banks  United  States 
bonds  as  the  basis  for  their  note  circulations,  and  all  notes 
of  State  banks  were  to  be  taxed  ten  per  cent.,  which  soon 
drove  them  out  of  circulation.  As  a  war  measure,  the  na- 
tional bank  law  was  not  a  great  success,  as  the  bank  did  not 
become  fully  established  before  the  war  was  nearly  at  an 
end.  But  it  resulted  in  placing  the  currency  of  the  country 
on  a  more  secure  basis  than  had  been  before  accomplished. 
By  this  new  law  the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  whose 
office  was  then  created,  was  authorized  to  permit  the  estab- 
lishment of  banking  associations,  of  not  less  than  five  persons, 
for  periods  not  exceeding  twenty  years,  with  a  minimum 
capital,  except  in  small  places,  of  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. Such  associations  were  required  to  deposit  with  the 
Treasury  Department  United  States  bonds  to  the  extent  of 
not  less  than  one-third  of  their  capital,  the  Treasury  in  turn 
issuing  to  them  circulating  notes  in  amount  equal  to  ninety 
per  cent,  of  their  bonds. 

The  profit  to  the  banks  under  the  present  system  depends 
upon  the  rate  of  interest  on  the  bonds  themselves,  and  the 
premium  or  discount  which  the  bonds  may  be  at  any  given 
time  purchased.  The  gradual  decline  and  final  disappear- 


BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES, 

ance  of  the  premium  on  gold,  the  reduction  of  the  rate  of 
interest  on  government  bonds,  and  the  high  premiums  upon; 
bonds  bearing  the  reduced  rates  of  interest  have  all  com- 
bined to  reduce  the  profits  of  the  banks.  The  proportion  of 
bank-notes  is,  from  this  reduction  in  the  profits  of  bank-note 
circulation,  steadily  diminishing.  This  fact  may,  unless  some 
change  in  the  financial  system  be  brought  about,  cause  the 
country  to  forego,  in  time,  the  great  advantages  of  the  pres- 
ent banking  system. 

Differing  from  bank-notes,  yet  like  them  a  species  of 
credit,  are  bills  of  exchange,  which  play  a  very  important  part 
in  modern  commercial  transactions.  A  bill  of  exchange  is- 
an  order  from  one  person  to  another  to  pay  a  certain  sum  of 
money.  It  differs  from  a  promissory  note,  in  that  the  one  is 
a  promise,  the  other  an  order  to  pay  something.  The  mode 
of  paying  and  of  receiving  payment  for  goods  from  one  coun- 
try to  another  is  by  bills  of  exchange.  By  this  means  is  ob- 
viated the  expensive  and  inconvenient  necessity  of  shipping 
the  precious  metals  from  country  to  country  in  payment  for 
commodities.  Bills  of  exchange  originated  in  Italy  during 
the  twelfth  century.  The  first  function  performed  by  them 
was  payment  of  the  taxes  levied  by  the  Pope  on  the  Floren- 
tines. It  became  the  custom  of  the  agents  of  the  Pope  to 
send  drafts  on  their  principals  to  the  Pope  in  payment  for 
taxes  collected.  A  bill  of  exchange  was  thus  originally  a 
banker's  draft  addressed  to  an  inhabitant  of  one  country  fronr 
one  of  another.  The  oldest  bill  of  exchange  known  was- 
dated  1380.  It  is  a  matter  of  some  doubt  just  when  the  idea 
of  negotiating  bills  of  exchange  was  introduced.  Some 
writers  claim  this  innovation  for  Cardinal  Richelieu,  but  this 
has  been  disputed. 

"  Exchange,"  in  the  language   of  merchants,    means   the 


238  BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES. 

power  which  the  money  of  one  country  has  of  purchasing  the 
money  of  other  countries.  Exchange  is  at  par  when  for  a 
certain  amount  of  money — metal,  or  its  equivalent — you  can 
buy  a  right  to  receive  an  equal  amount  of  the  same  metal  in 
.another  country.  Exchange  is  above  or  below  par  when  the 
right  to  receive  a  given  amount  of  metallic  money  in  another 
place  must  be  purchased  by  paying  a  greater  or  less  amount 
of  the  same  metal  in  the  place  where  the  purchase  is  con- 
summated. Exchange  is  at  par  when  the  payments  from  one 
place  to  another  or  from  one  country  to  another  exactly 
balance  each  other.  When  this  is  not  the  case  exchange  is 
:said  to  be  against  the  country  having  the  greater  sum  of 
payments  to  make.  The  premium  on  bills  cannot  rise  higher 
than  the  cost  of  shipping  the  precious  metals,  since,  rather 
than  pay  a  higher  price  for  a  bill,  the  merchant  would  prefer 
to  ship  the  gold  in  payment  for  goods. 

Credit  has  become  in  the  modern  world  a  most  powerful 
agent  in  the  transactions  of  commercial  affairs.  It  is  indis- 
pensable in  rendering  the  entire  capital  of  a  country  produc- 
tive by  transferring  capital  from  hands  in  which  it  would  lie 
idle,  or  be  wasted  or  destroyed,  to  those  in  which  it  would  be 
employed  in  productive  enterprises.  By  means  of  credit, 
capital  may  be  made  available  for  turning  to  better  account 
all  the  industrial  talent  of  a  community.  Credit  is  purchas- 
ing power  just  the  same  as  money,  and  an  increase  of  credit 
in  a  country  has  therefore  the  same  effect  as  would  be  pro- 
duced by  adding  to  the  amount  of  metallic  money  in  circula- 
tion. The  superiority  of  bank  money  as  a  convenient  medium 
of  exchange  is  evidenced  by  its  wide  adoption  at  the  present 
day  by  all  civilized  countries. 

But  while  credit  has  power,  it  has  not,  as  some  imagine, 
magical  power.  Lost  in  admiration  of  the  harmonious  work- 


BANKS    AND    EXCHANGES.  239 

ings  of  the  present  highly  perfected  system  of  banking,  many 
persons  are  led  to  believe  in  the  feasibility  of  a  still  greater 
extension  of  its  functions.  Since  credit  fills  so  large  a  place 
in  the  financial  world,  may  it  not  assume  a  still  wider  power  ? 
May  it  not,  in  fact,  usurp  the  place  of  money  altogether  ?  In- 
asmuch as  a  promise  to  pay  money  circulates  as  freely  side 
by  side  with  money,  why  not  dispense  with  money  in  its 
metallic  form,  and,  as  credits  are  more  easily  created,  let 
nations  become  wealthy  by  multiplying  them  indefinitely  ? 

The  flaw  in  this  reasoning  is  the  neglect  to  take  account 
of  the  thing  that  gives  to  credit  its  value,  the  fact  that  it  has 
back  of  it  the  ability  to  fulfill  the  promise  of  which  it  is  the 
representative.  A  promise  may  never  be  kept,  there  may 
be  no  probability  that  it  will  ever  be  called  upon  for  a  fulfill- 
ment. But  there  is  yet  a  latent  quality  in  the  human  mind 
which  leads  it  to  demand  that  a  promise  shall  be  possible  of 
realization.  The  schemes  for  issuing  irredeemable  notes, 
which  have  in  different  countries  and  at  various  times  been 
attempted,  have  proved  that  there  is  a  limit  to  the  extension 
of  credit  beyond  which  the  prudent  financial  intuition  of  a 
people  will  not  suffer  it  to  go. 

If  the  banking  functions  are  to  be  extended,  such  expansion 
must  take  place  on  lines  of  sound  principles  of  money  and 
credit.  And  the  vastly  diverging  opinions  of  the  thinkers  on 
these  subjects  would  warn  against  hasty  conclusions  where 
they  are  fraught  with  so  weighty  consequences.  A  safe  and 
judiciously  managed  system  of  banking  is  the  most  powerful 
factor  in  enhancing  the  material  prosperity  of  a  country, 
while  rashly  and  unwisely  conducted  it  may  become  rather 
the  means  of  undermining  the  foundations  of  national  security 
and  welfare. 


MECHANISM  IN  ART. 

HE  evolution  of  the  human  mind  through  the  ages,  the 
changes  in  thought  and  opinion  which  "  the  long  re- 
1       suits  of  time  "  have  brought  about,  are  none  the  less 
astounding  than  the  modifications  which  the  Darwin- 
ites  would  have  us  believe  have  been  brought  about  in  the 
human  form  and  features.     Human  history  is  but  one  long 
narration  of  change,  progression,  of  shifting  views  and  feel- 
ings.    To-day  a  race,  a  class,  a  sect,  are  scorned,  despised ; 
to-morrow  the  nations  haste  to  do  them  honor,  the  past  is  ig- 
nored, "  and  the  multitude  make  virtue  of  the  faith  they  had 
denied." 

The  student  of  to-day  reads  the  history  of  the  past  with  an 
ever-growing  amazement  at  the  social  ideas  of  caste  and  con- 
dition, which  were  clung  to  with  a  religious  tenacity  by  the 
ancients.  It  demands  all  the  different  conditions  and  environ- 
ment which  the  existence  of  a  slave  class  creates  in  a  com- 
munity to  enable  one  to  enter  into  and  interpret  the  feeling 
which  the  nations  of  antiquity  had  toward  any  form  of  manual 
exertion  or  the  individuals  performing  it. 

Society  has,  in  all  ages,  idolized,  bowed  down  to,  the  painter, 
the  musician,  the  sculptor.  Nations  have  enrolled  their  names 
high  among  the  lists  of  their  great  and  honored.  It  was  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  a  people  like  the  Greeks,  whose  reign- 
ing passion  was  a  love  for  the  beautiful,  whether  in  the  human 
240 


MKCHANISM     IN    ART.  24! 

face  and  form  or  in  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture, 
should  hold  in  light  esteem  the  less  elegant  although  equally 
worthy  arts.  In  them  the  aesthetic  was  cultivated  to  the 
exclusion  of  everything  else.  "The  glory  that  was  Greece  " 
came  from  this  love  for,  this  worship  of,  the  beautiful  in  all 
things.  And  so  the  world  has  been  ever  since  admiring-  and 

o  o 

revering  their  thoughts  of  beauty,  which,  imprisoned  in 
marble  or  reflected  on  canvas,  have  lived  to  tell  to  the  ages 
what  great  and  lofty  souls  inspired  with  true  love  for  their 
art  may  accomplish. 

But  the  Greeks  failed  to  see  that  while  the  beautiful  is 
truly  useful  it  is  not  the  only  utility.  And  so  the  Greek 
nation  perished,  because  they  scorned  what  Irving  has  called 
"  the  coarser  plants  of  daily  necessity."  The  builders  of  the 
cities,  the  men  who  planned  the  walks  and  constructed  the 
bridges,  the  inventors,  the  artificers,  were  the  great  unknown 
of  history.  The  place  of  the  artisan  in  the  society  of  the  old 
world  would  be  difficult  to  define,  because,  forsooth,  the 
artisan  was  not  included  in  the  social  regime  of  the  ancient 
time.  He  composed  part  of  the  great  substantial  foundation 
structure  on  which  society  rested,  but  he  could  hardly  be  said 
to  have  a  social  existence,  as  we  now  use  the  term. 

The  arts  were  classified  by  the  ancients  under  two  heads, 
as  is  done  in  modern  time,  but  their  very  nomenclature  of 
these  two  classes  respectively  reveals  the  different  attitude 
occupied  toward  them  from  that  of  the  present.  The  early 
classification  was  into  the  liberal  and  the  servile  arts.  In 
the  first  class,  the  liberal  arts,  which,  as  the  name  liberal, 
from  Latin  liber,  free,  implies,  were  those  practiced  by  free 
men,  were  included  painting,  music,  sculpture,  poetry,  and 
oratory.  They  were  the  same  professions  as  those  which,  at 
16 


242  MECHANISM    IN    ART. 

the  present  day,  are  denominated  the  fine  or  liberal  arts. 
The  second  class,  the  servile  arts,  were  those  which  were 
deemed  fit  occupations  only  for  slaves.  This  class  embraced 
all  of  what  are  now  called  mechanical  pursuits  and  also  the 
useful  arts.  This  latter  term  is  equally  a  misnomer,  in  that 
it  ignores  the  true  usefulness  of  all  in  poetry,  music,  or 
painting  that  ministers  to  man's  mental  or  spiritual  being, 
and  lifts  him  above  mere  animal  existence. 

All  of  these  mechanical  arts  were,  by  the  Greeks,  relegated 
to  the  hands  of  slaves.  It  would  have  been  thought  a  degrada- 
tion for  a  freeman  to  perform  such  tasks.  Agriculture  alone 
was  held  a  worthy  calling  for  a  free  Greek  citizen.  There 
may  be,  perhaps,  a  lingering  trace  of  this  idea  in  the  physio- 
cratic  views  of  a  later  day  that  agriculture  alone  was  productive 
labor.  The  Greeks,  indeed,  held  trade  in  little  favor.  It  was 
a  part  of  their  policy  of  exclusiveness  to  eschew  commercial 
relations  with  other  nations.  And  it  is  to  commerce  and  a 
large  interchange  of  commodities  that  the  industrial  arts 
must  owe  their  greatest  prosperity.  Among  nations  famous 
for  their  commercial  activity  we  find  even  at  that  early  day 
a  quite  different  attitude  toward  the  mechanical  arts.  We 
find  them  held  in  high  regard  by  the  natives  of  Tyre  and 
Sidon  and  by  the  Phoenicians.  This  is  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand, since  the  works  of  the  artificers  were  in  these  great 
trading  countries  the  foundation  of  the  national  wealth. 

Turning  to  ancient  Rome,  we  find  much  the  same  state  of 
things  as  in  Greece.  The  fine  or  liberal  arts  alone  were 
deemed  a  worthy  employment  for  a  Roman  citizen.  The 
mechanical  arts  were  left  to  be  practiced  entirely  by  the  slave 
population,  and  the  artisans  in  Rome  were  a  degraded  class, 
the  lowest  stratum  of  the  social  structure.  Even  so  great  a 


MECHANISM    IN    ART.  243 

mind  as  that  of  Cicero's  shared  the  national  scorn  for  any 
form  of  manual  labor.  "  All  artisans,"  he  said,  "  are  en- 
gaged in  a  sordid  employment,  nor  can  anything  ingenious 
come  out  of  a  workshop."  Down  to  so  late  a  period  as 
during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne,  we  find  the 
industrial  arts  still  left  to  the  serfs. 

Shortly  after  Charlemagne's  time,  however,  we  discover  the 
mechanic  gradually  coming  to  a  position  of  higher  repute  in 
the  community.  It  began  to  be  a  not  altogether  unheard-of 
thing  for  a  free  citizen  to  employ  himself  in  one  of  the  once- 
degraded  professions.  About  this  time,  too,  it  became 
customary  for  the  monks  to  beguile  the  monotony  of  their 
leisure  hours,  formerly  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  the  weary 
copying  of  manuscript,  to  the  practice  of  some  one  of  the 
useful  arts.  The  tenth  century  witnessed  a  marked  change 
in  the  condition  and  estimation  of  the  artisan.  It  is  related 
that  at  Vicenza,  in  Italy,  a  criminal  could  actually  escape  the 
death  penalty  by  calling  to  his  relief  a  Roman  law,  which 
decreed  that  a  prisoner  might  for  a  first  offense  be  pardoned, 
if  he  could  prove  himself  to  be  exceptionally  skilled  in  any 
useful  art.  About  the  tenth  century  guilds  and  societies  of 
artisans  began  to  be  formed,  by  becoming  a  member  of 
which  the  artisan  enjoyed  certain  privileges  and  advantages. 

The  Hebrew  nation  was  peculiar  for  the  esteem  in  which 
the  industrial  arts  were  from  earliest  times  held  by  them. 
In  one  of  the  books  of  Moses  we  find  mention  of  one  skilled 
in  manual  arts,  and  thus  skill,  far  from  being  despised,  was 
looked  upon  as  divine  in  its  origin.  The  second  King  of 
Judea,  in  seeking  workmen  to  build  his  temple,  was  compelled 
to  appeal  to  a  Phoenician  prince  to  send  him  workmen, 
since,  he  said,  the  Sidonians  were  known  to  be  skilled  above 


244  MECHANISM    IN    ART. 

all  other  peoples.  We  find  in  all  the  writings  of  the  Hebrews, 
most  respectful  reference  to  the  useful  arts.  Parents  were 
counseled  to  teach  their  children  a  trade,  the  Jews  holding 
that  manual  skill  was  no  detriment  to  mental  advancement. 
This  feature  of  the  Jewish  people  was  adhered  to  by  William 
Penn  in  the  code  of  conditional  laws  drawn  up  by  him  for  the 
government  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware.  The  code  con- 
tained a  statute  to  the  effect  that  all  children  who  had 
reached  the  age  of  twelve  years  should  be  taught  some  useful 
trade,  as  an  encouragement  to  industry  in  the  poor,  and  as  a 
safeguard  for  the  wealthy,  in  case  they  should  become  dis- 
possessed of  their  property. 

The  disdain  with  which  most  of  the  early  nations  regarded 
the  whole  subject  of  mechanics,  has  resulted  in  great  loss  to 
the  modern  world  as  well.  It  is  known  that  there  were  pro- 
duced occasional  inventions  of  great  importance  in  those 
ages,  of  machines  for  moving  large  bodies,  and  for  perform- 
ing other  mechanical  services,  but.  the  neglect  of  the  learned 
to  turn  their  attention  to  such  subjects,  and  the  slight  popular 
estimate  of  their  importance,  suffered  not  only  the  names  of 
the  artisans,  the  inventors,  to  perish,  but  even  all  knowledge  of 
the  valuable  processes  to  be  buried  with  their  time.  The  suc- 
cessive steps  in  the  invention  of  machines  were  never 
recorded,  but  one  work  of  importance,  a  treatise  prepared 
by  Vitrivius  on  architecture,  during  the  reign  of  Augustus, 
containing  any  information  of  value  on  such  matters.  How 
the  vast  blocks  of  stone,  of  which  the  pyramids  and  other 
massive  structures  of  antiquity  were  composed,  were  raised 
to  so  great  height ;  what  was  the  nature  of  the  powerful 
mechanical  invention  which  could  perform  such  gigantic  feats 
are  secrets  which  no  ancient  documents  disclose. 


MECHANISM    IN    ART.  245 

Archimedes,  it  is  true,  developed  some  theories  in  regard 
to  mechanical  laws  which  were  far  in  advance  of  the  notions 
of  his  time — so  far,  indeed,  that  it  was  centuries  before  his 
doctrines  gained  anything  like  general  acceptance.  But  the 
difficulties  encountered  by  the  ancient  philosophers  in  apply- 
ing to  practical  purposes  the  theories  which  their  brains  had 
conceived,  lay  in  the  inefficiency  and  lack  of  skill  of  the  classes 
to  whom  the  practice  of  the  mechanical  arts  was  relegated. 
These  arts  being  left  to  the  hands  of  a  slave  population, 
suffered  naturally  the  stagnation  which  characterizes  all  in- 
dustries exclusively  the  occupation  of  serfs.  Slave  labor  is 
always  found  less  intelligent,  less  capable  of  development, 
than  the  labor  of  free  workmen,  and  the  art  which  depends 
for  its  existence  upon  the  exertions  of  a  servile  class  will  ever 
be  found  slow  of  advancement.  The  great  ideas  concerning 
the  action  of  the  physical  forces  of  the  universe,  which  the 
great  minds  of  the  time  worked  out  by  long  and  arduous 
processes  of  thought,  failed  of  the  fruits  of  good  which  they 
should  have  borne  to  the  world,  because  there  were  lacking 
the  skilled  hands,  the  ingenious  workmanship  which  must 
supply  the  machinery  needed  to  reduce  them  to  practical  ap- 
plication. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  considering  the 
esteem  in  which  the  useful  arts  were  held,  that  so  many 
centuries  should  pass  without  any  observable  progress  being 
made  in  them.  Men  were  content  to  go  on  in  the  same 
beaten  track  that  their  fathers  had  trod,  ploughing  their  fields 
with  the  same  implements,  spinning  their  flax  and  wool  in  the 
same  primitive  manner  that  their  ancestors  for  hundreds  of 
years  had  done  before  them.  It  was  scarcely  worth  any  one's 
while  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  the  invention  of  better  ways  of 


246  MECHANISM    IN    ART. 

doing.  Labor-saving  devices  concerned  the  upper  classes 
but  little,  since  the  labor  economized  would  be  at  the  most 
slave  labor,  and  the  artisan  class  occupied  themselves  too 
degraded  a  position  for  any  great  creative  work  to  be  looked 
for  from  them. 

The  Baconian  philosophy  did  much  to  disentangle  men's 
minds  from  the  confusions  of  abstruse  metaphysical  specula- 
tions, and  turn  their  thoughts  toward  those  useful  arts  which 
were  essential  to  the  bettering  of  human  condition  in  the 
realm  of  material  things.  Tames  I  of  England  extended 

O  J  £> 

great  patronage  to  the  mechanical  arts,  and  during  the 
reign  of  that  sovereign  considerable  progress  was  made.  It 
opened  up  an  era  of  hopefulness  for  the  artisan,  when  the 
invention  of  the  crreat  machines  used  in  the  textile  and  other 

o 

industries,  made  possible  the  accomplishment  by  machinery 
of  much  that  had  formerly  to  be  produced  by  slow  and 
laborious  hand  labor.  Machinery  revolutionized  the  indus- 
trial, it  brought  temporary  hardship  and  deprivation  to  many 
artisan  classes,  but  it  brought  in  the  long  run  a  better  con- 
dition to  the  laborer.  The  minute  division  of  labor,  which 
prevails  in  the  modern  industrial  world,  may  indeed  impart 
monotony  of  labor  to  the  workman  condemned  to  the  endless- 
repetition  of  a  single  unvarying  task.  But,  after  all,  monotony 
of  work  is  not  so  bad  as  monotony  of  life.  The  shorter 
hours  for  labor  which  the  introduction  of  machinery  brought 
about  have  given  the  laborer  greater  leisure  and  opportunity 
for  improving  his  condition  than  he  before  had.  So  well  have 
such  opportunities  been  improved  that  the  great  inventions 
of  later  years  have  been  mainly  the  outcome  of  the  genius  of 
the  artisan  class. 

It  has  remained  for  these  later  days  to  place  the  mechanic 


MECHANISM    IN    ART.  247 

arts  in  their  proper  rank,  as  of  equal  dignity  and  value  with 
the  fine  arts,  and  with  this  higher  estimate  of  the  useful  arts, 
has  come  a  truer  appreciation  of  the  individuals  whose  lives 
are  given  to  the  practice  of  the  mechanical  professions.  The 
great  and  famous  men,  who  have  by  their  inherent  talents 
risen  from  the  ranks  of  mechanics  to  positions  of  prominence 
and  honor,  would  of  itself  cast  eternal  discredit  on  the  ancient 
theory  that  such  labor  had  in  it  that  which  must  necessarily 
degrade  the  mind.  The  modern  world,  instead,  crowns  with 
honor  the  successful  inventor.  Wealth,  to-day,  showers  with 
bounteous  hand  her  treasures  upon  the  man  who  has  accom- 
plished some  mechanical  triumph. 

And  after  all,  do  we  not  mistake  in  denominating  as  purely 
mechanical  the  work  of  the  shop,  the  task  of  the  machinist  ? 
It  has  been  said  of  the  fine  arts  that  they  are  those  in  which 
the  mind  has  more  to  do  in  production  than  has  the  hand, 
while  the  mechanical  arts  are  more  the  product  of  the  hand 
than  of  the  brain.  But  what  industrial  art  is  wholly  me- 
chanical ?  It  has  been  well  said  that  the  man  who  first 
invented  even  the  rudest  tool  was  an  artist.  He  must  have 
had  imagination,  design,  the  power  to  reason  and  deduce 
conclusions.  There  was  in  the  production  of  that  simple 
implement  far  greater  exercise  of  mind  than  of  muscle.  And 
the  same  is  true  in  practice  as  in  invention.  We  watch  a 
man  tending  a  highly  complex  machine.  His  action  looks  to 
the  careless  observer  a  simply  mechanical  task.  There  seems 
in  the  one  thing  which  he  is  required  to  do  over  and  over 
again,  no  call  for  mental  exertion,  no  demand  upon  the 
higher  faculties.  And  yet  to  fit  that  man  to  do  that  work,  to 
properly  train  his  mind  up  to  the  point  of  rightly  tending 
that  intricate  piece  of  mechanism,  has  required  centuries  of 


248  MECHANISM    IX 

education  and  development.  The  ignorant  savage  could  no 
more  perform  such  a  feat  than  he  could  write  a  poem  or 
paint  a  picture.  The  power  of  mental  application,  the  self- 
control,  the  adaptation  in  his  thought  of  the  means  to  the 
end  would  be  found  wholly  lacking  in  him.  He  would 
possess  the  muscular  strength  requisite  for  its  performance 
in  a  greater  degree  perhaps  than  the  civilized  artisan,  but  the 
intellectual  training,  that  cleverness  and  dexterity  which  are 
the  slow  growth  of  generations  of  civilizing  agencies,  would 
place  a  wide  distance  between  the  skilled  workman  and  the 
savage.  And  going  thus  through  the  entire  list  of  the 
mechanical  professions,  we  might  well  find  it  difficult  to  dis- 
cover one  to  which  this  test  applied  would  not  reveal  that  it 
was  more  or  less  the  product  of  the  mental  faculties. 

With  the  study  of  the  physical  forces  of  the  universe,  and 
their  application  to  the  many  different  devices  which  minister 
to  human  needs  and  pleasures,  has  come  a  great  enlarge- 
ment of  man's  mental  horizon.  "  Material  progress,"  says 
E.  C.  Stedman,  "determines  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
progress  of  the  human  race."  And  not  a  science  of  to-day 
but  what  owes  an  overwhelming  debt  of  gratitude  to  the 
inventions  and  skilled  workmanship  of  the  artisan  classes. 
The  wonders  of  the  heavens  are  more  clearly  and  marvel- 
ously  revealed  to  man  because  of  the  exquisitely  ground 
lenses  of  the  telescope,  and  the  ingenious  machinery  in  which 
they  are  fixed.  The  human  intellect  is  quickened  and  ex- 
panded with  the  rapid  interchange  of  thought  made  possible 
by  the  printing  press,  the  telegraph,  and  the  steam  engine. 

The  world  is  coming  to  know  that  men  cannot  separate 
one  art  or  class  of  arts  from  the  others,  and  pursue  them  to 
the  neglect  and  exclusion  of  all  else,  but  that  there  is  a  close 


MECHANISM    IN    ART.  249 

interdependence  of  all  arts  and  industries,  as  well  as  of  all 
classes  of  society,  the  one  upon  the  other.  That  nation  which 
scorns  the  useful,  the  practical,  and  cultivates  the  beautiful 
alone,  declines  and  falls  because  it  had  a  one-sided,  an  un- 
natural development.  It  is  only  by  a  true  recognition  of  the 
harmonious  connection  existing  between  all  the  arts,  by  a  wise 
utilization  of  all  the  forces  in  the  world,  that  the  unity,  the 
completeness,  the  fullness  of  national  life  is  attained. 


BICYCLES  AND  CYCLING. 

HE  early  stages  of  the  development  of  the  bicycle 
seem  to  be  involved  in  obscurity.  The  idea  of  self- 

1  propulsion  by  means  of  wheels  must,  undoubtedly, 
have  arisen  from  the  habit  to  which  Young  America 
is  still  addicted,  that  of  sitting  in  a  hand-cart  and  shoving 
along,  by  using  the  feet,  in  places  where  the  slope  will  not 
allow  the  cart  to  go  without  assistance.  At  first,  experiments 
were  made  with  four,  three,  and  two  wheels.  It  is  said  that 
one  wheel  was  also  tried,  but  abandoned  as  not  practical  for 
general  use.  But,  even  to-day,  some  excellent  trick-riding  is 
done  on  an  ordinary  carriage  wheel  without  gearing  or  appli- 
ances of  any  sort. 

The  first  of  which  we  find  an  account,  but  no  description, 
is  said  to  have  been  invented  by  one  Richard  Lovell  Edge- 
worth,  about  1767. 

Soon  after  the  great  continental  war,  in  1815,  the  first 
bicycle  was  introduced  into  England  from  France.  It  is  de- 
scribed as  being  a  primitive,  awkward  affair,  having  a  couple 
of  heavy  wooden  wheels  of  equal  diameter,  of  the  size  of  car- 
riage wheels,  and  joined  by  a  longitudinal  wooden  bar,  on 
which  the  rider's  seat  was  fixed.  The  wheels  were  placed 
one  behind  the  other.  This  machine  was  propelled  by  push- 
ing the  feet  against  the  ground.  For  about  fifty  years  all  the 
250 


BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING.  251 

appliances  used  for  self-propulsion  were  found  to  be  too 
crude  and  unwieldy  for  general  adoption,  and  the  machines 
were  only  used  spasmodically  and  for  short  times.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  description  given,  these  early  machines  had  an 
arm-rest  placed  at  the  front  part  of  them.  In  propelling  this 
crude  affair,  the  rider  placed  himself  in  the  saddle  or  seat, 
astride  the  wooden  beam,  and  with  his  arms  on  the  rest 
pushed  the  "dandy-horse,"  as  it  was  called,  by  kicking  the 
ground  on  either  side  of  him  alternately  with  his  feet.  We 
are  told  that  skillful  riders,  by  so  doing,  were  enabled  to 
attain. sufficient  impetus  to  cause  the  machine  to  run  for  some 
distance  unaided  ;  but  when  the  momentum  was  exhausted 
they  would  be  obliged  to  begin  pushing  again. 

In  1816  a  "celerifere,"  or  velocipede,  was  exhibited  in  the 
garden  of  Tivoli,  Paris.  This  is  the  same  machine  which  is 
supposed  to  have  been  introduced  the  following  year  into 
England  by  Baron  von  Drais,  who  was  a  resident  of  Mann- 
heim on  the  Rhine.  Velocipedes  of  three  or  more  wheels 
had  been  in  use  in  England  long  prior  to  this  time,  but  this 
was  the  first  vehicle  which  was  known  there  as  a  bicycle. 
This  had  wheels  of  thirty  inches  in  diameter.  It  was  called, 
after  the  Baron,  the  Drais  cycle.  Following  its  introduction 
into  England,  Denis  Johnson,  in  1819,  invented  some  im- 
provements and  called  it  "pedestrian  curricle."  This  had  an 
adjustable  saddle,  cushioned  arm-rest,  and  handles,  which  were 
curved  and  arranged  differently  from  those  in  previous  use. 
It  was  called  both  "dandy-horse"  and  "  hobby-horse."  It  was 
introduced  into  New  York  in  1819  and  created  a  great  furore. 
It  was  forty  years  afterward  that  an  ingenious  Frenchman 
devised  the  pedal  attachment.  On  account  of  the  undignified 
attitude  the  rider  was  compelled  to  assume  in  propelling  these 


252  BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING. 

early  machines,  they  were  the  subjects  of  much  ridicule  and 
fell  into  disrepute.  It  is  said  that  the  satire  of  Cruikshank 
effectually  killed  the  hobby-horse  of  1818. 

The  making1  of  the  first  practical  bicycle,  about  1846,  is 
credited  to  Gavin  Dalzell,  a  Scotch  cooper,  who  lived  at 
Lesmahagow,  in  Lanarkshire.  It  was  called  the  "  wooden- 
horse,"  on  account  of  the  material  of  which  it  was  constructed. 
"  The  saddle  was  low,  and  the  pedal  movements,  or  '  stirrups/ 
which  moved  backward  and  forward  alternately,  were  con- 
nected by  iron  rods  with  the  cranked  axle  of  the  driving- 
wheel." 

After  a  thorough  trial  of  these  new  appliances,  in  1867 
cycling  was  revived.  Prior  to  this  date,  however,  M.  Michaux, 
of  Paris,  had  evolved  from  his  fertile  brain  the  idea  of  pedal 
attachments  instead  of  stirrups  to  revolve  the  front  or  driv- 
ing-wheel. The  adoption  of  pedals  involved  the  addition  of 
the  balancing-handle,  by  which  the  base  of  the  machine  could 
be  changed  as  desired  by  turning  the  front  wheel,  even  to  a 
right  angle,  if  necessary  to  balance  the  machine.  This  was 
called  the  bicycle,  though  generally  known  as  the  "  bone- 
shaker," which  is  considered  the  more  appropriate  term,  as  it 
was  made  of  wood,  shod  with  iron  tires,  and  without  springs. 
The  craze  for  cycling  was  at  this  time  a  serious  one,  affecting 
rich  and  poor  alike,  but  the  cost  of  the  vehicles  largely  de- 
barred the  poorer  classes  from  the  pleasure.  On  account  of 
the  high  price  and  difficulty  of  riding  these  machines,  they 
fell  into  disuse,  and  cycling  threatened  to  become  a  lost  art. 
Another  addition  about  this  time  or  a  little  later,  in  1869, 
is  credited  also  to  M.  Michaux,  who  conceived  the  idea  of 
making  the  front  or  driving-wheel  much  larger  than  the  hind 
one.  Soon  after  this  date,  M.  Magee,  also  of  Paris,  largely 


BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING.  253, 

improved  the  machines  by  constructing  them  entirely  of  steel 
and  iron.  These  have  since  been  greatly  improved  by  the 
addition  of  many  modern  devices  and  appliances ;  as,  the 
application  of  crank  action  to  the  revolving  axles,  strong 
beaks  to  prevent  excessive  jostling,  improvements  in  saddles 
and  steering  apparatus,  and,  greatest  of  all,  the  adoption  of 
rubber  for  tires,  which  has  proved  the  salvation  of  cycling. 
The  identity  of  the  English  inventor  of  the  rubber  tire  is  not 
clearly  established.  These  additions,  together  with  suspen- 
sion-wheels and  steel  framing,  which  have  since  been  adopted, 
make  the  modern  bicycle,  and  have  rendered  cycling  a  "joy; 
beyond  compare"  to  those  who  are  so  favored  as  to  possess- 
wheels.  India  rubber  and  steel  have  signal  advantage  over 
iron  and  wood  in  both  strength  and  lightness,  and  the  latest 
evolution  of  the  bicycle,  the  "  safety/'  combines  all  the  expe- 
dients which  have  proven  of  practical  value. 

The  use  of  the  large  wheeled  bicycle  debarred  women  and 
girls  from  riding  the  wheel.  To  obviate  this  difficulty,  and  to 
meet  a  great  demand,  the  safety  was  manufactured.  It  was- 
also  thought  to  be  a  great  assistance  in  learning  to  ride  the 
large  wheel.  It  has  proven  to  be  of  such  practical  value  irn 
every  direction  that  it  has  been  generally  adopted  by  both 
men  and  women.  It  being  so  much  easier  to  mount,  and 
danger  from  falls  or  headers  being  reduced  to  a  minimum  by 
its  use,  it  has  largely  superseded  the  large  cycle,  or  "ordi- 
nary." 

The  utility  of  the  bicycle  has  been  proven  beyond  all  ques- 
tion of  doubt.  It  has  been  demonstrated,  times  without, 
number,  that  a  person  of  average  abilities  can  journey  over 
from  three  to  six  times  the  space  he  could  if  walking,  and/ 
with  much  less  weariness.  Three  hundred  miles  have  been 


254  BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING. 

traversed  in  a  single  day,  and  the  "  iron  steed  "  was  as  fresh 
as  at  first  for  three  hundred  more  the  next  day.  No  rub- 
bings, nor  food,  nor  stiffened  joints  to  be  nursed  back  to  their 
normal  condition.  It  has  been  used  in  all  departments  of  life, 
and  been  found  of  great  service  in  them  all.  With  it  ministers 
visit  their  parishioners,  doctors  their  patients,  and  business 
men  find  it  a  very  satisfactory  steed  to  ride  to  their  offices 
and  stores.  It  will  not  scare,  shy,  or  balk  ;  will  stand  quietly 
as  long  as  desired  ;  does  not  require  to  be  harnessed  and 
.unharnessed,  or  bedded  for  the  night,  but  altogether  adapts 
itself  to  the  requirements  or  wishes  of  its  owner  and  rider. 
So  generally  is  this  state  of  affairs  appreciated  that  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  are  in  use. 

The  literature  of  cycling  is  abundant  and  varied,  ranging 
from  weeklies  to  annuals,  to  say  nothing  of  the  road-books 
and  hand-books,  without  number.  The  first  bicycling  paper 
of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  was  mainly  a  business 
paper  or  trade  journal,  by  Cunningham,  Heath  &  Co.,  of 
Boston,  called  the  American  Bicycling  Journal.  It  should 
scarcely  be  called  a  bicycling  paper,  so  much  of  its  space 
being  devoted  to  business.  The  first  number  of  this  paper 
was  issued  in  December,  1877.  The  first  real  one,  the  Bi- 
cycling World,  was  founded  in  October,  1879.  The  first  book 
was  the  American  Bicycler,  by  Hough  ton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  pub- 
lished May,  1879.  It  has  been  well  said  that  "  1877  was  day- 
break, 1878  was  morning  twilight,  and  1879  was  sunrise  for 
the  revival  of  bicycling." 

Prior  to  the  final  adoption  of  the  bicycle  as  the  popular 
means  of  self-locomotion,  there  had  been  numerous  attempts 
to  introduce  a  variety  of  tricycles  and  velocipedes,  but  all 
•were  discarded  as  altogether  too  cumbrous  to  meet  the  require- 


BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING.  255 

ments.  The  same  was  true  of  all  steam  and  electric  con- 
trivances and  carriages.  To  this  day  nothing  has  been 
invented  that  will  in  any  way  compete  with  the  safety  bicycle 
for  both  sexes.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  cycle  would  have 
advanced  much  more  rapidly  than  it  has  toward  perfection  had 
the  skilled  engineers  and  mechanics  devoted  their  attention  to 
the  subject.  But  for  many  years  it  was  only  considered  by 
them  as  the  figment  of  an  idle  brain,  and  not  likely  to  be 
anything  but  a  toy.  Hence  their  apathy.  As  soon  as  they 
turned  their  attention  to  it  improvement  went  forward  in 
mighty  strides. 

It  has  been  found  that  persons  with  inbred  love  of  athletics 
make  the  best  riders  of  bicycles.  Its  use,  however,  should 
not  be  confined  to  these  persons,  for  the  therapeutics  of  the 
wheel  are  of  inestimable  value.  It  is  a  matter  of  doubt  if 
there  can  be  found  a  well-informed,  intelligent  physician  who 
will  say  that  the  judicious  use  of  the  bicycle  is  injurious. 
The  testimony  to  the  contrary  is  overwhelming.  Noted  phy- 
sicians everywhere  are  giving  the  weight  of  their  influence  in 
favor  of  cycling,  and  have  also  adopted  the  wheel  in  their 
own  practice. 

It  is  proven,  beyond  dispute,  that  for  the  head,  heart,  chest, 
back,  and  lungs — the  upper  and  nobler  parts  of  man — it  is 
of  incalculable  benefit.  All  parts  of  the  system  are  brought 
into  play  at  the  work  of  guiding,  controlling,  and  balancing 
the  machine.  The  arms,  shoulders,  and  back  feel  the  exer- 
cise more  than  the  legs.  In  this  exercise  the  circulation  be- 
comes active,  the  sluggish  liver  stirred  up,  the  kidneys  toned 
and  strengthened,  and  the  digestive  functions  improved  and 
increased.  The  benefit  to  those  of  sedentary  habits  and  oc- 
cupations cannot  be  estimated.  It  will  give  them  strength, 


256  BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING. 

tone,  and  vigor  throughout  their  entire  system.  One  of  its 
.strongest  points  for  them  is  that  it  requires  them  to  be  out  in 
the  sun  and  light  and  air. 

It  is  nearly  a  century  and  a  quarter  since  Blanchard  and 
Magurer  constructed  their  bulky  contrivance  to  be  propelled 
by  the  rider.  It  was  described  in  Le  Journal  de  Paris,  July 
syth,  1779.  The  bicycle  proper  is  less  than  fifty  years  old,  but 
velocipedes  antedate  that  by  a  hundred  years.  The  first  oc- 
currence of  the  name  is  found  in  the  English  Patent  Records, 
in  the  provisional  specifications  of  J.  I.  Starren,  filed  April 
8th,  1869. 

Pierre  Lallement  was  the  French  mechanic  who  took  off 
one  of  the  rear  wheels  of  a  velocipede,  set  the  other  up  to 
the  middle  of  the  axle,  applied  the  foot  cranks  to  the  front 
axle,  and  thus  made  the  first  "  bone-shaker."  This  was  ex- 
hibited by  his  employer,  M.  Michaux,  at  the  Paris  exhibition 
of  1865.  It  was  not  patented,  and  Pierre  Lallement  came  the 
following  year  to  the  United  States,  where,  while  looking  for 
•employment,  he  constructed  a  similar  machine  with  two 
-wheels,  which  he  had  brought  over  with  him.  He  rode  it  in 
the  streets  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  causing  much  excitement. 
A  Yankee,  by  the  name  of  Carroll,  induced  him  to  take  out  a 
patent  for  the  device  in  connection  with  himself,  Carroll  fur- 
nishing the  requisite  funds.  This  patent  was  secured  No- 
vember 2Oth,  1866.  He  called  it  a  velocipede.  It  is  described 
.as  being  made  of  wooden  wheels  of  nearly  equal  size,  with 
iron  tires,  one  before  the  other,  and  surmounted  by  a  wooden 
perch.  It  was  kept  upright  by  means  of  the  handles  which 
turned  the  wheel  in  the  direction  in  which  it  was  inclined  to 
/all. 

The  bicycle,  which  was  first  rightly  entitled  to  the  name  was 


BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING.  257 

that  one  introduced  into  England  in  1869.  Until  the  last  five 
years  the  United  States  has  not  sustained  the  reputation  of 
the  American  character  for  inventiveness,  mechanical  excel- 
lence, or  progress  and  enterprise  in  this  matter.  In  1878  the 
Pope  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Boston,  opened  warerooms 
for  the  sale  of  imported  bicycles.  The  outlook  being  prom- 
ising, they  began  to  manufacture  them,  and  the  Columbia 
was  the  first  good  American  bicycle.  It  has  proved  an  ex- 
cellent and  practical  roadster.  But  it  has  only  been  since 
the  adoption  of  the  safety  for  general  use  that  universal  in- 
terest has  been  evoked. 

There  are  clubs,  associations,  and  leagues  without  number, 
but  the  most  prominent  of  them  all  are  the  Cyclists'  Touring 
Club,  of  England,  which  is  also  the  oldest,  and  the  League 
of  American  Wheelmen,  of  the  United  States.  These  are 
large  bodies  and  wield  an  extensive  influence. 

B.  W.  Richardson,  M.  D.,  proves  from  his  own  experience 
that  the  bicycle  has  conferred  on  men  and  women  "  a  new 
faculty  of  locomotion."  He  argues  that  beside  developing 
physical  strength,  skill,  courage,  and  endurance,  it  calls  forth 
other  powers ;  as  the  observation  and  scientific  research  in 
various  lines.  It  generally,  symmetrically,  and  thoroughly 
develops  all  the  muscles  and  functions  of  the  body.  A  man 
suffering  from  inguinal  hernia  has  ridden  sixty  miles  while  he 
cannot  walk  five,  and  has  also  joined  in  long  and  hard  runs 
and  otherwise  generally  "kept  up  with  the  procession." 
This  exercise  is  largely  conducive  to  the  formation  and 
establishment  of  "a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body."  For 
nervous  diseases  of  all  kinds  it  is  fraught  with  much  benefit. 
If  all  of  the  weight  rested  on  the  pedals  and  was  used  in 
propelling  the  rider  there  would  be  no  more  energy  expended 


258  BICYCLES    AND    CYCLING. 

than  in  walking,  but  the  truth  is  that  two-thirds  of  the 
weight  rests  passively  on  the  saddle  while  the  remaining  one- 
third  is  all  that  is  needed  to  work.  On  good  roads  ten  miles 
can  be  traversed  sooner  and  easier  than  three  can  be  walked. 
The  moral  tendency  of  the  wheel  is  excellent,  as  no  drunken 
person  can  maintain  his  equilibrium.  It  exhilarates  the  mind 
and  is  an  enticing,  fascinating  exercise. 

American  bicycling  dates  from  1865,  but  had  no  actual 
foundation  till  1878.  A  Frenchman  rode  one  on  the  stage, 
performing  astonishing  feats  of  skill.  The  Hanlon  Brothers 
saw  it,  obtained,  improved,  and  helped  to  perfect  bicycles. 
In  1877  about  a  dozen  gentlemen  rode  wheels. 

"  Applied  cycling "  commands  attention  and  careful  trial 
by  the  people,  as  well  as  the  approval  of  the  right  minded. 
The  bicycle  is  a  piece  of  machinery  which  is  a  great  factor  in 
recreation,  for  health  giving,  without  which  we  are  nothing, 
and  for  utility,  which  we  almost  worship.  Some  one  has 
truly  said,  "Its  use  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge,  beginning  with*  mechanics  and  extending 
through  physiology,  climatology,  topography,  geography, 
natural  history,  and  every  other  region  of  popular  science." 

England  is  working  out  the  problem  of  military  cycling, 
and  her  results  are  eminently  successful.  It  is  said  to  be 
claimed  by  those  who  have  made  the  question  a  special 
study,  who  are  military  experts  well  acquainted  with  cyclists 
and  their  capabilities,  that  they  can  be  made,  at  least,  a  very 
valuable  supplementary  screening  aid,  and  in  performing 
some  duties  have  exceptional  advantages.  Their  trained  use 
of  maps  and  intimate  local  geographical  knowledge  ;  rapidity 
of  movement;  powers  of  endurance,  attack,  and  defense;  to 
maintain  a  continuous  front  and  of  concentration  ;  independ- 


BICYCLES  AND  CYCLING.  259 

ence  of  supply  of  ammunition  ;  indestructibility  of  means  of 
locomotion  ;  the  capacity  to  be  moved  to  certain  points  in 
sufficient  numbers,  and  to  take  advantage  of  open  railway 
communication,  as  wheels  can  be  loaded  on  to  cars  in  which 
horses  could  not  possibly  be  transported.  General  Wolsely 
says :  "  The  day  will  come,  and  is  coming,  when  large  bodies 
of  cyclists  will  be  recognized  and  become  integral  parts  of 
every  army  in  the  field." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  its  use  will  not  be  restricted  to 
recreation  and  the  military,  but  messenger  boys,  telegraph 
boys,  mail  carriers,  and  those  in  various  avocations  will  adopt 
them  as  the  speediest  means  of  locomotion  for  short  dis- 
tances. 

The  objections  to  the  use  of  bicycles  are  so  slight  and  the 
advantages  so  great  that  its  use  at  the  present  time  has  be- 
come well-nigh  universal,  and  the  owner  of  a  wheel  looks 
upon  it  as  "  a  thing  of  beauty  and  a  joy  forever/' 


ALUMINUM. 

HE  earliest  whisper  regarding  aluminum  dates  back  to 
1807.     But  it  is  almost  an  unrecorded  whisper,  as 

1        even  the  name   of  the  discoverer  has  not  descended 

with  it  to  the  present  time.     For  many  years  after 

this  date  the  metal  was  only  known  as  a  laboratory  curiosity, 

and   not   until   about   1860  did  it  take  its  place  among  the 

regularly  manufactured  products  of  the  world. 

Aluminum  is  so  common  in  nature  that  it  is  almost  uni- 
versal, and  is  literally  trodden  under  foot.  It  is  the  metallic 
base  of  alumina,  which  is  the  characterizing  constituent  of  the 
common  clays.  It  also  abounds  in  feldspar,  slate,  and  many 
other  rocks  .and  minerals.  Cryolite,  a  mineral  first  found  in 
Ivigtuk,  in  Arksylfiord,  on  the  west  coast  of  Greenland,  was 
the  ore  originally  used  for  the  manufacture  of  aluminum,  but 
later  beauxite,  a  mineral  found  at  Beaux,  in  the  south  of 
France,  was  found  to  be  rich  in  the  metal,  and  was  adopted 
as  a  more  convenient  source  of  supply. 

The  first  authentic  discovery  of  aluminum  was  by  one 
Wohler  in  1827.  He  seems  to  have  dropped  the  investiga- 
tion for  awhile,  but  in  1846  he  again  began  his  research,  the 
result  of  which  was  the  obtaining  of  minute  globules  or  beads 
of  the  metal.  This  was  done  by  heating  a  mixture  of  chloride 
of  alumina  and  sodium. 
260 


ALUMINUM.  26l 

In  1885,  Deville,  the  French  chemist,  showed,  as  the  result 
of  several  experiments,  that  aluminum  could  be  prepared  ex- 
tensively, in  compact  shape,  without  great  difficulty.  He 
spoke  of  it  as  "  the  intermediate  metal  between  the  noble  and 
the  base  metals."  This  was  indeed  true  regarding  the  price, 
as  well  as  in  regard  to  the  properties  of  it. 

These  early  researches  of  Deville  were  begun  in  the 
laboratory  of  the  Normal  School  of  Paris,  but  afterward  con- 
tinued under  the  patronage  of  Emperor  Napoleon  III  at  the 
chemical  works  of  Javel. 

The  use  of  beauxite  for  procuring  aluminum  is  these  early 
experiments  was  in  this  wise :  The  beauxite  was  heated 
with  soda  ash,  producing  the  aluminate  of  soda,  which  was 
separated  from  the  insoluble  part  by  lixiviation,  or  leaching. 
Carbonic  acid  being  then  passed  through  the  solution,  pure 
alumina  was  precipitated.  Balls  were  then  formed  by  com- 
bining common  salt  and  charcoal.  These  were  put  in  an 
earthen-ware  retort  and  heated  while  chlorine  gas  was  passed 
through  it.  By  this  means  there  was  a  union  of  the  char- 
coal and  oxygen,  and  also  of  the  chlorine  and  aluminum. 
This  latter  combination,  being  sublimed  with  common  salt, 
was  collected  as  a  double  chloride  of  aluminum  and  sodium. 
This  combination  being  heated  in  a  reverberatory  furnace 
with  metallic  sodium  and  fluxes,  the  sodium  absorbed  the 
chlorine,  thus  setting  the  aluminum  free,  and  it  was  thrown  to 
the  bottom  where  it  could  be  collected  and  molded  for  use. 

The  manufacture  of  aluminum  was  not  commenced  in 
England  until  1860,  when  Mr.  I.  L.  Bell  began  it  at  Wash- 
ington, near  Newcastle-ori-Tyne.  The  usefulness  of  the 
metal  not  being  understood  at  this  date,  there  was  but  slight 
demand  for  it,  and  it  being  an  expensive  process  the  works 


262  ALUMINUM. 

there  were  shut  down  and  France  has  stood  unrivalled  in  its 
production  until  recently,  when  the  Aluminum  Crown  Works 
were  started  at  Hollywood,  near  Birmingham,  England. 

In  America  extensive  works  were  started  in  Detroit,  Mich., 
known  as  the  American  Aluminum  Company's  works. 

The  color  of  aluminum  is  white,  resembling  silver,  having, 
however,  a  bluish  hue,  not  unlike  zinc.  This  color  can  be 
bleached  in  several  ways  :  by  the  use  of  hydrofluoric  and 
phosphoric  acids,  and  by  a  heated  solution  of  potash.  While 
the  color  is  sensibly  that  of  silver,  it  looks  whiter  on  account 
of  the  alloy  in  silver.  The  pure  aluminum  is  perceptibly 
whiter  than  the  commercial,  for  the  latter  is  never  pure,  no 
matter  how  prepared.  The  chemically  pure  aluminum  has 
no  taste,  but  tastes  like  iron  when  it  is  strongly  charged  with 
silicon.  It  has  no  odor  in  its  pure  state,  but  also  smells  like 
iron  when  it  is  impure. 

It  is  very  light  in  weight,  being  four  times  lighter  than 
silver  and  two  and  a  half  times  heavier  than  water. 

In  elasticity  it  compares  with  silver  and  its  tenacity  is 
nearly  equal  to  the  same  metal.  It  is  one-third  as  strong  as 
steel. 

It  is  highly  sonorous.  A  bar  of  the  pure  metal  being  sus- 
pended by  a  fine  wire  and  struck  emits  a  delightful  sound, 
like  a  crystal  bell.  The  greater  the  purity,  the  more  sonor- 
ous. Hence,  its  availability  for  tuning  forks.  Attempts  have 
been  made  to  cast  bells  from  it,  but  the  result  has  not  been 
entirely  satisfactory,  as  the  clappers  seem  to  interfere  with 
the  free  transmission  of  the  sound,  and  they  sound  too  much 
like  a  cracked  pot.  This  sound  emitted  by  the  struck  bar  or 
ingot  is  found  upon  analysis  to  consist  of  two  tones,  A  sharp 
and  D  sharp,  which  follow  each  other  in  rapid  succession.. 


ALUMINUM.  263. 

These  tones  are  nearly  synchronous,  but  the  latter  is  more 
subdued. 

Aluminum  is  a  fixed  metal,  losing  none  of  its  weight  by 
being  violently  heated  in  a  forge  fire  in  a  carbon  crucible, 
nor  does  it  show  the  slightest  tendency  to  volatilize  at  any 
temperature. 

It  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  best  conductors  of  elec- 
tricity, and  the  use  of  aluminum  wire  is  strongly  advocated 
for  telegraphic  purposes.  It  is  thought  to  equal  silver  in 
this  respect.  Some  scientists  say»that  it  conducts  both  heat 
and  electricity  even  better  than  silver  or  copper. 

Aluminum  forms  crystals  when  cooled  slowly.  These  crys- 
tals are  in  the  form  of  needles,  crossing  each  other  in  every 
direction.  Other  forms  have  been  reported,  from  time  to 
time,  but,  upon  investigation,  they  have  proved  to  be  incom- 
plete, or  only  fragments  of  these  longer  crystals. 

This  metal  is  very  ductile,  as  well  as  very  malleable.  The 
finest  wire  for  art  embroidery,  and  the  thinnest  leaves  for 
gilding  and  decorating  are  made  from  it.  In  this,  it  equals 
gold  and  silver.  In  toughness  it  approaches  iron,  and  is  sus- 
ceptible of  a  brilliant  polish.  It  melts  at  one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  ninety-two  degrees  Fahrenheit,  or  seven  hun- 
dred degrees  Centigrade,  and  is  thus  cast  into  ingots  for 
market. 

By  exposure  to  the  air,  whether  dry  or  damp,  it  will  neither 
oxidize  or  tarnish.  The  gases  which  so  readily  darken  sil- 
ver have  no  effect  on  this  metal.  Sulphurous  vapors  cannot 
tarnish  it.  Water  and  steam  at  a  white  heat  affect  it  very 
feebly,  acting  only  in  spots. 

The  true  solvent  of  this  metal  is  hydrochloride  acid,  weak 
or  concentrated,  but  when  the  metal  is  pure  it  acts  slowly, 


264  ALUMINUM. 

While  aluminum  does  not  withstand  chemical  agents  in 
general  as  strongly  as  the  noble  metals,  it  does  withstand  air, 
sulphuric  acid,  nitric  acid,  and  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  which 
iron,  copper,  and  silver  do  not.  For  this  reason,  it  makes  an 
excellent  substitute  for  these  metals  in  many  of  their  uses. 

It  is  too  soft  in  its  pure  state  to  endure  much  wear,  or  to 
keep  a  high  polish,  and  too  weak  to  support  much  strain  ; 
hence,  the  alloys  of  it  which  are  made  by  combining  it  with 
other  metals. 

The  ingots  haveadensityof  twoand  fifty-six one-hundredths, 
but  when  hammered  and  worked  this  density  is  increased  to 
two  and  sixty-seven  one-hundredths.  It  is,  consequently,  lighter 
than  glass.  On  account  of  this  lightness,  it  is  used  for 
various  kinds  of  instruments:  mechanical,  optical,  surgical, 
etc.,  etc. 

In  combination  with  other  materials  many  useful  compounds 
are  formed.  With  copper,  there  are  several  alloys  which  are 
white,  very  hard  and  light,  besides  a  yellow  alloy,  which  is 
very  similar  to  gold  in  color,  though,  of  course,  much  lighter 
in  weight.  ,  It  is  called  aluminum  bronze,  consists  of  from 
five  per  cent,  to  ten  per  cent,  of  aluminum,  and  is  very 
strong.  This  alloy  was  discovered  by  Dr.  Percy,  of  London. 
For  some  time  it  was  manufactured  into  watch  chains,  pencil- 
cases,  and  other  small  articles  of  ornament.  More  recently 
it  is  being  made  into  table-plate,  and  is  also  used  in  carriage 
mountings.  Its  tensile  strength  can  be  made  equal  to  steel, 
so  it  has  been  found  available  for  field-guns.  Its  durability 
and  anti-friction  qualities  cause  it  to  possess  great  advantages 
for  bearings  of  shafts. 

An  alloy  with  tin  has  been  compounded  and  used  for  op- 
tical instruments. 


ALUMINUM.  265 

"Tiers  Argent"  is  the  name  of  an  alloy  from  which  spoons 
and  forks  and  small  table-ware  are  made.  This  is  a  mixture 
of  aluminum  and  silver.  An  alloy  of  five  per  cent,  of  silver 
is  used  for  watch  springs. 

Although  the  history  of  aluminum  is  a  short  one,  being 
only  contemporaneous  with  the  present  generation,  its 
general  utility  creates  for  it  a  most  prominent  place  in  the 
arts  and  sciences.  It  is  being  proven  to  be  one  of  the  most, 
if  not  the  most,  serviceable  of  the  metals  This  is,  of  course, 
on  account  of  its  great  tenacity,. lightness,  ductility,  and  mal- 
leability, as  well  as  its  non-corrosive  qualities. 

It  is  said :  "  From  all  the  experiments  which  have  been  re- 
ported, and  all  the  observations  which  have  been  made,  we 
can  conclude  that  aluminum  has  complete  analogies  with  no 
one  of  the  simple  bodies  which  we  consider  metals." 

What  first  engrossed  the  minds  of  the  chemists  experi- 
menting for  aluminum  was  how  to  extract  it.  They  troubled 
themselves  very  little  about  the  ultimate  expense  of  the 
operation.  A  much  cheaper  process  than  any  then  in  use 
was  invented  by  H.  Y.  Castner,  of  New  York,  in  1886,  which 
he  patented  in  June  of  that  year,  and  the  subsequent  year 
made  his  invention  known.  This  was  the  first  patent  taken 
out  on  this  process  since  1808. 

About  1 760  Morveau  called  the  substance  obtained  by  cal- 
cining alum,  alumina.  Lavoisier  was  the  first  to  suggest  that 
the  earths  and  alkalies  had  metallic  bases.  From  this, 
alumina  was  suspected  of  being  the  oxide  of  a  metal,  and  the 
metal  was  called  aluminum.  This  was  long  before  the 
separation  of  it  was  effected. 

As  has  been  intimated,  1807  is  the  first  that  we  hear  of 
any  research  into  the  preparation  of  aluminum.  This  at- 


266  ALUMINUM. 

tempt  was  crowned  with  so  little  success  that  it  seemed  to 
merit  but  the  slightest  mention.  Oerstedt,  in  1824,  believed 
that  he  had  succeeded  in  extracting  the  metal,  and  published 
his  method.  But  his  successors  in  the  work,  using  his  direc- 
tions, were  unable  to  produce  it.  It  was  concluded  that  he 
had  omitted  a  part  of  the  operation. 

In  1855,  in  the  Palais  de  1'Industrie,  was  seen,  for  the  first 
time,  a  large  bar  of  this  wonderful  metal  ticketed  as  "  Silver 
from  Clay." 

In  1859,  the  first  aluminum  works  were  started  in  England, 
at  Battersea,  near  London.  There  are  no  details  given  as  to 
the  size  of  the  establishments  or  length  of  time  they  were  in 
operation.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  they  were  ultimately 
merged  into  those  of  the  Bell  Brothers,  at  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne. 

Since  1860  numerous  patents  have  been  issued  and  many 
inventions  devised  to  facilitate  its  manufacture,  and  also  look- 
ing to  the  reduction  of  its  price.  How  effectively  this  has 
been  accomplished  will  be  shown  by  contrasting  the  price  per 
pound  in  1856,  which  was  $90.90,  with  that  in  1889,  or  $2«oo. 

The  separation  of  aluminum  by  electrolysis  was  discov- 
ered accidentally  and  simultaneously  by  Deville,  in  France, 
and  Bunsen,  in  Germany,  in  1854.  The  battery  method  now 
usually  employed  is  to  run  an  electric  current  from  a  ten-cell 
battery  through  the  double  chloride.  Carbon  poles  are  used. 
Large  globules  of  the  metal  collect  at  the  negative  pole, 
which,  after  being  collected,  are  melted  together  into  a  com- 
pact mass  under  a  layer  of  fused  salt.  The  battery  is  also 
used  in  plating,  for  which  aluminum  is  very  superior.  In 
combination  with  nickel,  it  makes  a  beautiful  white  plate 
which  is  far  more  durable  than  silver.  It  is  itself  capable  of 


ALUMINUM.  267 

being  gilded  and  silvered  in  six  different  colors.  Thus  it 
can  be  readily  seen  how  it  practically  excels  either  gold  or 
silver. 

During  the  last  thirty-five  years  aluminum  has  been  used 
in  making  medals,  ornaments,  furniture  trimmings,  culinary 
utensils,  and  many  other  small  articles.  The  first  article 
ever  made  from  it  was  a  baby's  rattle  for  the  Prince  Imperial 
in  1856.  At  first  there  was  much  difficulty  experienced  in 
using  the  metal  in  its  application  to  the  mechanical ,  arts, 
owing  to  the  lack  of  a  suitable  solder,  which  would  not  be 
attacked  by  the  acids  with  which  the  aluminum  was  cleaned. 
This  is  now  obviated  by  the  discovery  of  a  solder  composed 
of  six  per  cent,  of  aluminum,  four  per  cent,  of  copper,  and 
ninety  per  cent,  of  zinc.  Consequently,  the  use  of  the  metal 
has  become  almost  illimitable. 

Aluminum  is  susceptible  of  a  high  polish,  which  is  given  it 
by  dipping  the  polishing  stone  into  an  emulsion  of  equal 
weights  of  olive  oil  and  rum  and  polishing  the  same  as  silver, 
though  not  with  so  heavy  a  pressure.  The  soiled  surfaces 
are  cleaned  by  dipping  the  article  into  benzine  and  drying  in 
fine  sawdust. 

It  can  be  stamped  and  pressed  into  any  shape.  The 
United  States  government,  in  1865,  experimented  in  making 
coins  of  this  metal,  but  the  results  were  not  encouraging 
enough  to  ensure  their  adoption  as  currency. 

Of  the  early  work  in  manufacturing  aluminum,  it  is  said 
that  prior  to  Wohler,  Davy  had  tried  both  the  electrical  and 
the  vapor  of  potassium  methods  for  separating  the  metal,  but 
was  not  successful  in  his  attempts.  He  could  only  secure  a 
very  impure  article. 

Aluminum  leaf  was  first  made  by  C.  Falk  &  Co.,  of  Vienna. 


268  ALUMINUM. 

It  is  said  that  a  very  thin  leaf  will  burn  like  paper  when 
made  into  a  roll.  It  burns  with  a  brilliant  white  flame. 

Aluminum  resists  the  action  of  the  graver's  tool,  as  it  slides 
over  the  surface  as  it  would  over  glass.  In  order  to  engrave 
it,  it  has  to  be  prepared  with  a  varnish  of  four  parts  turpen- 
tine and  one  part  stearic  acid ;  or  one  of  olive  oil  and  rum, 
when  it  may  be  cut  as  easily  as  pure  copper. 

It  is  slow  to  melt  because  its  specific  heat  is  considerable 
and  its  latent  heat  seems  to  be  very  great. 

There  is  no  other  metal  so  abundant  or  so  widely  scattered, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  it  in  a  free  state,  as  it  is  always 
in  combination,  nor  can  it  be  gotten  by  the  ordinary  methods  of 
smelting,  etc.,  as  with  other  metals.  Although  so  universal, 
it  is  a  most  curious  fact  that  it  is  never  found  in  the  animal 
tissues,  nor  in  plants,  seeming  to  show  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  their  growth  or  development.  Possibly  it  may  be  injurious 
to  them.  While  aluminum  is  found  everywhere  in  clay,  until 
the  adoption  of  recent  methods  the  silica  in  the  clay  has 
rendered  its  extraction  well-nigh  impossible,  at  least  at  a 
figure  that  would  create  a  market  for  it.  Thus,  for  many 
years  the  manufacture  of  aluminum  was  greatly  restricted. 
With  the  improved  facilities  of  the  present,  the  day  is 
probably  near  its  dawn  which  will  see  aluminum  substituted 
for  a  majority  of  purposes  in  which  other  metals  are  now 
used.  Housekeepers  will  demand  their  culinary  utensils 
made  of  this  metal  because  of  its  weight  and  its  failure  to 
oxidize  and  corrode.  Ornamentation  will  demand  its  use  on 
account  of  its  great  beauty  and  service.  Its  great  adaptation 
to  the  mechanical  arts  has  already  been  shown.  Surgeons 
have  found  the  use  of  suture  wire  of  aluminum  superior  to 
any  other.  Dentists  use  it  for  plates  for  artificial  teeth,  as  it 


ALUMINUM.  269 

is  light  and  no  electric  current  is  caused  by  taking  other 
metals  into  the  mouth.  It  will  be  likely  to  replace  gold  and 
silver  because  of  its  weight  and  cost,  as  well  as  its  resistance 
of  the  action  of  gases  and  chemical  agents.  It  will  replace 
the  common  metals  on  account  of  its  beauty  and  weight.  It 
has  been  thought  that  aerial  navigation  would  be  recon- 
structed by  its  adoption.  This  is  a  little  doubtful,  as  magne- 
sium is  nearly  as  strong  and  only  seven-tenths  as  heavy. 
While  it  will  not  resist  the  elements  as  well,  it  may  be  easily 
protected  so  that  it  will. 

Aluminum  is  not  likely  to  be  imitated  or  counterfeited, 
but  some  of  its  products  undoubtedly  will  be.  This  will  be 
especially  true  in  the  case  of  the  gems  of  which  it  is  the  chief 
constituent.  It  occurs  prominently  in  rubies,  sapphires, 
garnets,  topazes,  to  say  nothing  of  the  countless  stones  not 
deemed  precious.  Knowing  the  formulae  of  their  composi- 
tion, it  would  be  easy  to  imitate  these  gems,  and  cause  them 
to  become  far  more  plentiful  than  the  supply  of  Dame 
Nature. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  estimate  the  amount  of  aluminum 
manufactured  since  Deville  first  started  the  industry  in 
1854-56.  The  output  of  that  time  is  placed  at  fifty-five 
pounds.  In  1872  one  firm,  H.  Merle  &  Co.,  issued  four 
thousand  pounds ;  another  firm,  the  Bell  Bros.,  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  Of  course,  this  amount  has 
been  greatly  augmented  in  these  later  years. 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE  CABLE  CAR. 

|    *ROM  the  olden  time,  "  before  the  steam  engine  bullied 

I  /     the  earth  with  thunderous  stroke,  and  reduced  space 

I 1  to  a  mere  matter  of  time,"    the  problem  of  "  rapid 
^        transit"  has  vexed  the  minds  of  the  people.     Many 

solutions  have  been  offered,  both  for  individual  and 
collective  propulsion,  \vhich  should  be  faster  than  walking. 
From  the  "  bestridden  walking-stick,"  as  the  velocipede  or 
"  hobby-horse "  of  Von  Drais  was  dubbed,  down  to  the 
present  perfection  of  bicycles,  cable  and  electric  roads  and 
steam  moguls,  many  devices  have  been  invented,  only  to  be 
discarded,  upon  trial,  as  inadequate  for  the  end  in  view. 

When  the  railroad  first  began  to  run  in  the  United  States, 
the  roads  of  the  country  were  in  a  miserable  condition,  so  the 
people  most  eagerly  welcomed  the  rail  traffic,  merely  stipu- 
lating that  the  engines  should  be  detached  in  going  through 
the  towns,  and  horses  substituted  as  the  traction  power. 
Subsequently,  the  engine  was  allowed  to  draw  the  train 
through  city  and  town  limits,  but  at  a  much  slower  pace,  and 
latterly  there  has  been  the  addition  of  a  bell  to  be  rung  as  a 
signal  and  warning  to  all  in  dangerous  proximity  to  trains. 
From  this  changing  from  engine  to  horses  the  idea  of  the 
street  railway  was  evolved.  The  very  first  car  built  to  be 
drawn  by  horses  was  a  rude  log  cabin,  having  seats  along 

270 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CABLE    CAR. 

each  side,  with  a  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room.  Afterward, 
the  coach  or  omnibus  was  adopted  for  many  years. 

The  end  aimed  at  in  a  street  railway  system  is  to  concen- 
trate the  greatest  power  in  the  least  possible  space,  not  only 
in  the  turning  of  corners,  but  for  economy  of  space  in  straight 
lines.  It  was  formerly  thought  that  only  the  steam  engine 
could  do  this,  but  results  have  proved  that  the  cable  systems 
now  in  use  can  accomplish  this  purpose  equally  well,  if  not 
better,  within  the  limits  of  their  use. 

The  credit  of  originating  a  complete  cable  system  does  not 
belong  to  any  single  inventor.  As  with  many  other  valuable 
discoveries  of  our  time,  the  cable  trains  of  to-day  are  the  ag- 
gregation of  numerous  devices  emanating  from  the  braips  of 
many  scientific  men. 

The  first  cable  lines  were  used  to  convey  ores  and  coal 
from  mines.  These  were  simply  overhead  ropes,  worked  by 
means  of  pulleys,  and  were  used  in  grades  where  animal 
power  was  not  available.  Their  use  proving  their  utility, 
they  began  to  be  more  generally  adopted,  and  their  service 
extended  to  the  carrying  of  passengers  and  freight.  The 
first  ore  cars,  or  tubs,  were  suspended  from  a  stationary  rope 
by  wheels  or  pulleys  fixed  along  the  centre  of  the  top  of  the 
vehicle,  and  drawn  by  another  rope.  When  they  came  to  be 
adopted  for  carrying  living  freight  or  movables  this  running 
gear  had  to  be  doubled  to  secure  equilibrium.  Then  the 
wheels  are  placed  along  each  upper  edge  of  the  cars  and  two 
stationary  and  two  traction  ropes  were  employed.  One  of 
this  kind  was  built  at  Gibraltar  for  the  purpose  of  conveying 
men  and  stores  from  the  town  to  the  fortifications  at  the 
summit. 

The  idea  of  using  wire  cables  for  hauling  vehicles  is  v^ry 


2/2  EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CABLE    CAR. 

old,  but  secreting  the  rope  beneath  the  surface  is  of  recent 
origin.  This  was  first  called  "  underground  haulage.*' 
Chains  as  well  as  ropes  were  employed  in  early  experiments, 
but  the  use  of  them  has  been  abandoned,  as  the  ropes  have 
proved  far  more  practical.  In  the  lines  now  in  use  the  ends 
of  the  rope  are  joined,  thus  making  the  endless  cable  system, 
which  possesses  features  of  peculiar  merit,  as  will  be  seen  in 
the  descriptions  which  follow.  This  plan  was  first  practically 
adopted  in  connection  with  a  street  car  line  in  the  city  of  San 
Francisco,  in  1873,  with  both  mechanical  and  financial  suc- 
cess. To  the  great  enterprise  and  mechanical  ingenuity  of 
this  City  of  the  Golden  Gate  are  due  the  origin  and  success 
of  the  modern  cable  system. 

The  first  permit  in  San  Francisco  for  a  wire  cable  road 
was  granted  to  General  Abner  Doubleday  and  Captain  R.  L. 
Ogden,  of  the  army,  who  were  the  originators  of  the  enter- 
prise. The  duties  of  the  General  calling  him  away  from  San 
Francisco,  he  sold  his  stock  and  interest  to  Mr.  A.  S.  Halli- 
die,  who  studied,  worked  over,  and  perfected  the  system.  It 
was  ready, for  use  in  August,  1873.  It  has  been  found  to  be 
"  adapted  to  all  kinds  of  metropolitan  railroading  where  the 
surface  of  the  street  has  to  be  kept  free  from  obstructions, 
where  locomotive  steam  engines  are  not  permitted,  or  where 
the  grades  of  streets  are  so  steep  as  to  make  the  use  of 
horses  difficult  or  impossible."  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Hallidie 
was  led  to  apply  his  patents  to  the  street  cars  by  seeing  the 
poor,  overloaded  horses  straining  in  climbing  the  steep 
grades,  slipping,  falling,  and  being  dragged  for  some  dis- 
tance by  the  heavy  loads  attached  to  them. 

This  cable  system  is  thus  described :  "  An  endless  steel 
wire  rope,  three  inches  in  circumference,  eleven  thousand 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   CABLE    CAR.  273 

feet  long,  is  stretched  the  whole  distance,  lying  in  iron  tubes, 
supported  every  thirty-nine  feet  on  eleven-inch  sheaves. 
This  rope  is  supported  at  every  change  of  angle  at  the  lower 
crossings  on  sheaves  four  feet  in  diameter,  passing  around  a 
horizontal  sheave  eight  feet  in  diameter  at  the  lower  end  of 
the  line,  and  at  the  engine  house  around  two  angle  sheaves, 
each  eight  feet  in  diameter,  which  lead  the  rope  on  the  grip 
pulleys,  also  eight  feet  in  diameter,  which  are  driven  by  one 
fourteen  by  twenty-eight  engine.  The  steam  is  furnished  by 
one  boiler,  sixteen  feet  by  fifty-four  inches,  using  three  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  pounds  of  coal  per  day.  They  have 
also  duplicate  boiler  and  engine  which  are  held  in  reserve. 

"The  patent  grip  pulleys  being  furnished  at  their  circum- 
ference with  jaws  that  grip  and  release  the  rope  automati- 
cally by  the  pressure  of  the  rope  in  the  jaws  prevent  the  rope 
from  slipping,  and  being  set  in  motion  by  the  engine  actuates 
the  endless  rope  while  traveling  up  one  tube  and  down  the 
other. 

"  In  addition  to  the  sheaves  that  support  the  rope  in  the 
tubes  at  the  upper  side  of  each  crossing  where  the  incline 
makes  an  angle  upward  there  are  sheaves  in  the  tubes  that 
keep  the  rope  down  and  from  striking  the  upper  part  of  the 
tube. 

"  It  will  be  understood  that  there  is  an  opening  in  the  upper 
side  of  the  tube.  This  opening  runs  the  entire  length  of 
each  tube,  forming  a  long  slot  five-eighths  inch  wide.  This  slot 
is  not  immediately  over  the  centre  of  the  tube,  but  on  one 
side  to  keep  sand  and  dirt  from  falling  on  the  rope,  to  clear 
the  upper  sheaves,  and  to  enable  the  foot  of  the  gripping 
attachment  to  pass  by  and  under  the  upper  sheaves  in  the 
tube. 

18 


2J4  EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CABLE    CAR. 

"  The  connection  between  the  cars  on  the  street  and  the 
traveling  rope  is  made  by  means  of  this  gripping  attach- 
ment. The  traction  car  or  *  dummy '  with  the  gripping 
attachment  is  attached  to  the  passenger  car  firmly,  so  that 
there  can  be  no  danger  of  accident.  The  passenger  car  is 
amply  provided  with  brakes.  In  addition  to  the  usual  car- 
brake  there  is  another  attachment  operated  in  the  same 
manner  as  ordinary  brakes,  which  forces  a  broad  band  of 
wood  down  on  each  track  immediately  under  the  car.  Strong 
iron  drags  are  provided,  so  that  if  any  accident  should  occur 
in  going  up  the  hill  they  will  immediately  catch  in  the  street 
and  prevent  the  car  from  going  backward.  When  it  is 
necessary  to  back  down-hill  these  drags  are  raised  up  out 
of  the  way  by  the  conductor. 

"The  'dummy'  is  also  provided  with  powerful  brakes. 
The  '  dummy '  and  cars  are  connected  with  a  suitable 
coupling  so  that  the  weight  of  the  car  going  down  comes 
on  the  ropes,  and  is  utilized  to  draw  up  the  other  cars  on 
the  other  track.  The  brakes  are  not  usually  employed  when 
coming  down,  except  when  it  is  necessary  to  stop,  as  the  car 
runs  down  with  the  same  speed  as  the  rope,  as  long  as  the 
gripping  attachment  is  in  connection  with  the  rope."  The 
rope  runs  seventeen  and  a  half  hours  per  day,  at  a  speed  of 
six  miles  per  hour.  The  road  has  a  gauge  of  three  feet  six 
inches.  An  ordinary  thirty-pound  steel  "  T "  rail  is  used, 
set  flush  with  the  surface  of  the  street. 

The  first  Cable  Street  Car  line  was  run  on  Clay  Street 
Hill  Railway,  but  after  three  years  of  testing,  when  its 
economy  and  practicability  had  been  thoroughly  established, 
other  lines  were  started  in  other  parts  of  the  city  which  have 
met  with  the  same  practical  success 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CABLE    CAR.  275 

In  1876  Mr.  George  Sigl,  the  celebrated  Viennese  engineer, 
had  a  wire  cable  system  running  to  the  top  of  the  "  Mount 
Sofienalpe,"  one  of  the  most  delightful  lookouts  west  of 
Vienna.  It  was  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  yards  long  from 
the  end  of  Halter  Valley  to  the  summit.  It  exceeds  all  other 
roads  in  cheapness,  simplicity,  and  small  power  needed  to 
operate  it.  It  is  run  by  a  twelve-horse  power  engine. 

Col.  W.  H.  Paine,  in  1878,  invented  and  patented  an  in- 
genious device  for  attaching  the  cars  to  the  cable,  which  has 
been  generally  adopted.  It  is  called  the  "  rolling  grip."  It  is 
so  constructed  as  to  allow  the  cars  to  start  slowly  and  to 
gradually  acquire  the  speed  of  the  moving  cable.  He  first 
invented  this  improvement  for  the  mining  cars  at  Solomon's 
Gap,  at  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. 

There  is  no  record  of  the  adoption  of  the  modern  cable 
system  by  the  Chinese,  but  in  Hong  Kong  a  sugar  refinery 
has  an  aerial  cable  for  the  transfer  of  its  products. 

Cabling  has  progressed  from  the  crudest  forms  till  the 
present,  when  every  feature  of  the  system  is  covered  with  a 
multitude  of  patents  to  numerous  persons.  In  England,  over 
forty-five  years  ago,  a  patent  was  granted  applying  to  certain 
parts  of  such  a  system,  and  while  not  exactly  like  those  sub- 
sequently patented  in  the  United  States,  there  is  sufficient 
similarity  to  show  that  the  same  principles  are  used  by  the 
modern  railway  cable  lines. 

Prior  to  1850  even  horse-cars  had  not  been  used  in  the 
United  States,  and  it  was  not  until  they  were  proven  to  be 
successful  here  were  they  finally  adopted  in  England.  These 
will  all  be  superseded,  at  no  distant  day,  by  more  approved 
as  well  as  economical  means  of  transportation. 

Before   1870,  and  directly  after  the  obtaining  of  letters- 


276  EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CABLE    CAR. 

patent  by  E.  S.  Gardner,  of  Philadelphia,  many  skilled  and 
scientific  men  gave  their  attention  to  the  subject  of  cable 
traction.  Some  proposed  that  the  cables  should  be  raised  on 
poles,  especially  for  use  on  elevated  roads,  others  that  the 
cars  themselves  should  be  suspended,  running  from  the  top 
instead  of  from  the  base,  as  they  now  do,  and  many  imprac- 
ticable schemes  were  advanced.  However,  the  elevation,  or 
suspension,  rather,  of  the  cars  was  tried  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  on  Greenwich  Street,  but  after  a  thorough  trial  this 
method  was  abandoned,  although  it  is  said  the  principles  were 
not  at  fault,  but  were  not  sufficiently  well  understood.  Some 
believe  that  this  plan  will  yet  be  applied  to  elevated  roads 
with  success,  as  its  adoption  will  dispense  with  the  heavy 
locomotives  and  motors  now  used. 

Previous  to  1872  Mr.  Hallidie,  of  San  Francisco,  had  studied 
the  various  methods  of  "carrying  ropes"  in  vogue  amongst 
the  various  mines  of  the  country,  and  secured  many  patents 
for  their  improvement.  The  Clay  Street  Railway,  before 
spoken  of,  was  begun  under  his  auspices  in  June,  1873,  and 
opened  to  the  public  in  August  of  the  same  year.  His  friends 
considered  his  scheme  as  purely  visionary,  and  would  not 
assist  him  in  his  effort.  But,  as  is  the  history  of  so  many  such 
ventures,  it  succeeded  in  spite  of  opposition  or  derision,  and 
through  his  energy  and  persistence  cabling  has  become  an 
assured  success  throughout  the  world. 

In  1879  Robert  Gillham,  of  Kansas  City,  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  details  of  cable  operation,  but,  like  Mr.  Hallidie, 
met  with  marked  opposition.  He,  however,  was  enabled  to 
secure  the  co-operation  of  Eastern  capitalists  who  were  will- 
ing and  ready  to  aid  him,  not  only  with  their  money  and  influ- 
ence, but  with  time  and  work  as  well.  In  Kansas  City  every 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CABLE    CAR.  277 

imaginable  difficulty  had  to  be  met  and  overcome.  Grades 
as  steep  as  any  in  the  country,  high  iron  viaducts,  and  long 
spans  as  means  of  approach  to  the  high  bluffs,  and  tunnels 
passing  under  houses  and  streets,  were  some  of  the  impedi- 
ments in  the  way.  But,  in  spite  of  all  this,  it  is  said  that  this 
system  is  the  finest  in  the  country.  This  road  was  completed 
in  the  spring  of  1885.  By  it  was  demonstrated  that  right 
angles  could  be  turned  and  excessive  heights  scaled. 

&  o 

In  using  the  grip  of  the  Kansas  City  cable,  one  of  its  jaws 
is  directly  under  the  cable  and  the  other  above  it.  The  main 
shank  or  plates  of  the  grip  pass  from  these  jaws  through  a 
slot  three-fourths  of  an  inch  wide,  located  in  the  centre  be- 
tween the  rails,  at  level  of  the  street  and  which  extends  from 
one  end  of  the  road  to  the  other  in  both  tracks,  connecting 
with  the  upper  frame  of  the  grip,  where  they  are  fastened  to 
the  operating  levers.  By  throwing  the  grip  lever  forward,  the 
upper  part  of  the  jaw  closes  upon  the  moving  cable.  When 
the  gripman  wishes  to  stop  the  train,  he  reverses  the  lever, 
when,  by  the  use  of  a  suitable  brake  attachment,  the  cars  are 
brought  to  a  standstill.  There  are  two  tracks  having  the  car 
rails  and  the  slot  rails  in  position,  which  rest  upon  heavy  cast- 
iron  yokes  or  supports.  The  slot  rails  form  the  narrow  slot 
through  which  the  grip  shank  passes.  The  tube,  or  conduit, 
below  the  street  is  made  from  Portland  cement  concrete,  laid 
around  cores,  which  are  removed  when  the  cement  has  thor- 
oughly set.  At  curves  a  series  of  vertical,  conical-shaped 
curve  pulleys  are  arranged,  which  are  in  continual  motion 
while  the  cable  is  running.  The  cable  itself  is,  in  most  cases, 
made  of  steel.  It  is  usually  of  one  and  one-half  inches  in 
diameter,  weighs  two  and  one-half  pounds  per  foot,  and  is 
made  from  six  strands,  of  nineteen  steel  wires  in  each  strand. 


278  EVOLUTION    OF    THE    CABLE    CAR. 

The  Kansas  City  Cable  Railway  was  the  first  duplicate 
cable  railway  built.  If  the  cable  is  broken,  there  need  be  no 
cessation  of  travel,  as  is  necessary  with  single  line  roads. 
Delays  cannot  occur,  as  there  is  a  duplication  of  machinery 
throughout  the  entire  length  of  the  road.  An  interesting 
feature  of  this  system  is  a  little  stationary  steam  engine,  fixed 
to  the  bed-plates  of  the  driving  machinery,  of  power  suffi- 
cient to  move  slowly  either  set  of  drums  and  cables  without 
the  aid  of  the  additional  weight  of  the  cars  gripping  the 
cable.  One  set  being  thus  in  motion  propelling  cars  on  the 
street,  the  little  engine  is  put  in  motion  and  the  other  cable 
moves  slowly  into  the  house,  where  it  can  be  inspected  and 
repaired  as  occasion  requires.  By  this  means  the  work  of 
night  inspection  can  be  entirely  done  away  with,  as  the  cables 
cannot  be  properly  inspected  while  propelling  the  cars,  on 
account  of  the  rapid  motion.  This  duplication  of  machinery 
was  an  absolute  necessity  in  Kansas  City,  because,  in  case 
of  an  accident,  no  horses  could  possibly  be  substituted  to 
climb  the  grades. 

While  cabling  \\as  first  used  over  grades  too  steep  for  the 
advantageous  use  of  animal-power,  the  economy  of  its  work- 
ing has  been  so  thoroughly  demonstrated  that  it  is  being 
adopted  in  many  of  our  large  cities.  It  saves  great  wear 
and  tear  on  streets.  No  one  is  shocked  by  overburdened, 
overworked,  falling,  and  injured  horses.  It  is  estimated  that 
the  saving  by  the  adoption  of  this  system  is  from  thirty  to 
forty  per  cent.  The  usual  rate  of  speed  is  from  six  to  eight 
miles  an  hour.  By  its  use  steep  grades  are  as  accessible  as 
level  stretches.  The  trains  are  easily  stopped  and  started. 
There  are  fewer  cars  required,  because  the  increased  speed 
admits  of  more  trips  being  made.  This  system  is  not  affected 


EVOLUTION    OF    THE    CABLE    CAR.  279 

by  the  weather,  as  will  be  shown  later  on.  Not  the  least 
benefit  to  humanity  by  its  use  is  the  extirpation  of  the  bar- 
barous horse-car  system,  that  "  cruelty  unworthy  of  humanity 
and  civilization.'* 

In  1 88 1,  Mr.  C.  B.  Holmes,  of  Chicago,  carefully  investi- 
gated the  results  of  the  operation  of  cable  roads,  and  con- 
cluded to  apply  the  principle  to  the  State  Street  and  Wabash 
Avenue  lines,  which  were  under  his  control.  To  him  be- 
longs the  credit  of  proving  that  this  kind  of  traction  was 
available  under  all  kinds  of  weather  and  temperature.  The 
mercury  has  dropped  as  low  as  twenty-nine  degrees  below 
zero,  there  has  been  two  and  a  half  feet  of  snow,  and  the 
frost  has  penetrated  five  and  one-half  feet  into  the  ground 
without  causing  the  loss  of  a  single  trip.  The  great  ad- 
vantages of  this  kind  of  traction  has  led  to  its  introduction 
on  both  the  west  and  north  sides  of  Chicago,  as  well  as  the 
lengthy  extension  of  the  south  side  line.  It  has  also  been 
used  and  greatly  extended  in  several  other  cities  of  the 
United  States,  in  New  Zealand,  Australia,  and  other  countries 
where  extensive  transportation  is  required. 

Not  until  1883,  after  being  most  thoroughly  tested,  and 
having  stood  the  most  crucial  conditions,  was  it  finally 
adopted  in  England.  At  this  date  a  line  was  laid  up  High- 
gate  Hill,  London,  which  has  been  as  successful  as  the  Ameri- 
can lines.  Similar  lines  have  since  been  constructed  on  other 
streets  of  that  city. 

The  modern  road,  or  tramway,  as  it  was  called,  was  first 
constructed  and  used  in  New  York  city  in  1832,  though  not 
really  introduced  and  adopted  until  later.  In  1860  the  first 
street  railway  was  laid  in  England,  in  Birkenhead.  Mr. 
George  Francis  Train  was  the  inventor  and  designer. 


28O  EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CABLE    CAR. 

During  the  next  year  the  system  obtained  a  temporary 
footing  in  the  suburbs  of  London,  but  the  roads  were  con- 
sidered too  much  trouble,  and  the  lines  were  soon  removed. 
Eight  years  later  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  obtained  for  horse 
cars  in  Liverpool. 

While  the  discussion  of  the  adoption  of  the  cable  system 
in  England  was  in  progress  it  was  thought  that  the  erratic 
meteorological  variations  of  the  British  climate  would 
seriously  interfere  with  its  successful  operation.  But  the 
adoption  and  trial  of  the  plan  in  Chicago,  where  the  most 
variable  weather  and  greatest  extremes  of  temperature  were 
to  be  encountered,  resulted  in  giving  the  measure  the  desired 
impetus  to  secure  its  adoption  abroad. 

In  bringing  the  cabling  systems  to  their  present  perfection 
the  problem  before  the  scientific  engineers  has  been :  "  To 
devise  and  establish  a  mechanical  system  of  locomotion  that 
will  afford  the  traveling  public  the  same,  if  not  better,  com- 
fort and  accommodation  than  heretofore,  and  an  equal  degree 
of  safety  in  transit  at  the  same  rate  of  fares.  At  the  same 
time  any  such  proposed  scheme  should  show  a  distinct  re- 
munerative advantage  to  the  shareholders  and  be  reasonably 
free  from  the  numerous  objections  raised  by  municipal  or 
local  authorities." 

Among  the  principal  cities  of  the  world  now  using  cable 
systems  are :  San  Francisco,  Chicago,  Kansas  City,  Philadel- 
phia, Pittsburgh,  New  York,  Omaha,  Denver,  Sioux  City,  St. 
Paul,  St.  Louis,  Los  Angeles,  Cincinnati,  and  Portland  in  the 
United  States  ;  London  and  Birmingham,  England ;  Sydney, 
Australia ;  and  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 

It  has  been  found  that  electric  and  steam  motors  can 
accomplish  no  more  than  the  cable,  beside  requiring  such 


EVOLUTION    OF    THE    CABLE    CAR.  28 1 

heavy  running  gear  and  causing  more  noise  and  dirt  by  their 
employment  So  cabling  has  passed  beyond  the  age  of  ex- 
periment, and  has  now  become  a  demonstrated  fact  and 
possibility. 

In  consideration  of  the  approximate  annihilation  of  both 
time  and  space  as  demonstrated  in  all  kinds  of  methods  for 
rapid  transit,  it  may  well  be  said : 

"  Let  those  ride  now  who  never  rode  before, 
And  those  who  rode,  now  ride  the  more." 


THE  PHONOGRAPH. 

:  HE  phonograph  was  invented  in  1877.  in  experiment- 
ing with  the  telephone,  in  connection  with  the  vibrating 

1  diaphragms  of  that  instrument,  Thomas  Alva  Edison 
discovered  the  principles  and  facts  which  led  to  the 
invention  of  this  later  machine.  The  primitive  machines 
were  first  exhibited  in  1878,  both  in  England  and  America, 
since  which  time  the  instrument  has  risen  above  the  rank 
of  a  lecture  illustration  and  a  philosophical  toy,  and  has 
proven  itself  to  be  of  immense  value  in  many  practical  lines 
of  work. 

Previous  to  the  success  of  Mr.  Edison  with  the  phonograph, 
there  had  been  various  attempts,  by  other  parties,  to  con- 
struct talking  machines,  which  resulted  more  or  less  success- 
fully. 

Chladni  was  the  inventor  of  a  method  for  rendering  visible 
vibrations  caused  by  a  blow  or  any  other  impulse. 

Professor  Faber,  of  Vienna,  built  up  an  artificial  organ  of 
speech,  the  parts  of  which  performed  the  same  functions  as 
the  similar  parts  of  our  vocal  organs.  He  solved  the  problem 
of  a  talking  machine  by  reproducing  the  mechanical  causes 
of  vibrations  making  the  voice  and  speech.  Edison  solved  it 
by  obtaining  the  mechanical  effects  of  those  vibrations.  Faber 
reproduced  the  movements  of  our  vocal  organs,  Edison  the 
282 


THE    PHONOGRAPH.  283 

motion  of  the  drum  skin  of  the  ear  when  acted  on  by  vibra- 
tions caused  in  using  the  vocal  organs.  In  one  way  this 
"acoustical  marvel  of  the  century"  is  as  simple  as  a  coffee 
mill,  but,  scientifically,  there  are  many  subtile  questions  about 
it.  By  his  invention  Edison  did  for  sound  what  Daguerre  did 
for  light,  made  it  possible  to  secure  and  permanently  retain 
the  most  fleeting  impressions.  With  a  vibrating  plate,  tinfoil, 
and  a  crank  it  became  possible  to  arrest  and  fix  all  kinds  of 
sounds,  preserve  them  indefinitely,  and  reproduce  them  again 
upon  demand,  as  they  were  at  first  received. 

Professor  Mayer,  of  Stevens  Institute,  Hoboken,  N.  J., 
made  an  acoustic  apparatus,  including  several  talking  pipes. 
He  could  make  them  speak  certain  words  quite  distinctly  by 
moving  his  hand  on  the  top  of  them.  Even  short  sentences 
were  uttered.  But  none  of  these  devices  had  the  simplicity 
of  a  grindstone,  as  was  claimed  for  the  phonograph. 

Another  instrument  was  a  small  speaking  trumpet,  con- 
structed by  a  Mr.  W.  H.  Barlow.  This  was  four  inches  long, 
with  an  ordinary  mouthpiece  joined  to  a  tube  one-half  inch  in 
diameter,  the  thin  end  of  which  widened  out  so  as  to  form  an 
opening  two  and  one-quarter  inches  in  diameter.  This  was 
covered  with  a  membrane  of  gold-beater's  skin,  or  thin  gutta- 
percha.  A  spring,  which  held  a  marker,  was  made  to  press 
against  the  membrane  with  a  slight  pressure,  to  prevent,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  effects  of  jarring  and  vibratory  action. 

But  Edison's  invention  has  far  outstripped  all  others,  and 
by  it  a  new  field  may  be  opened  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  It 
is  impossible  to  even  conjecture  the  uses  to  which  the  won- 
derful instrument  may  be  adapted.  Time  and  necessity 
alone  will  determine.  The  use  of  the  phonograph  has  resulted 
in  the  solidification  and  preservation  indefinitely  of  something 


284  THE    PHONOGRAPH. 

more  ethereal  and  impalpable  than  any  gas — sound  and 
thought;  and  by  this  has  been  realized  one-half  of  the  poet's 
aspiration : 

"  O,  for  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand, 
And  a  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still." 

In  this  way  voices  that  are  hushed  forever  may  yet  speak 
to  us.  What  a  comfort  this  would  be  to  many  sorrowing 
ones. 

It  was  the  vibrations  of  the  earlier  forms  of  membranes 
of  stretched  gold-beater's  skin  having  a  small  piece,  or  point, 
of  iron  attached  to  their  centres,  which  led  to  the  suggestion 
of  the  phonograph.  In  the  first  machines,  as  in  the  telephone, 
a  stretched  membrane  received  the  vibrations  of  the  waves 
of  speech,  but  instead  of  communicating  them  to  a  similar 
membrane  at  the  other  end  of  the  line  they  were  recorded 
by  means  of  a  fine  point  on  a  cylinder  covered  with  a  sheet  of 
tinfoil.  Afterward  a  diaphragm  of  very  flexible  iron  was 
substituted  for  the  membrane,  which  in  turn  has  been  dis- 
placed and  superseded  by  a  diaphragm,  or  disc,  of  glass,  to 
which  is  attached  the  cutting  and  reproducing  styles. 

The  extraordinary  acoustical  discovery  was  that  this  bit  of 
iron  could  reproduce  all  the  peculiarities  and  variations  of  the 
atmospheric  waves  impinging  upon  the  membrane  when 
words  were  spoken  within  its  range.  Parafine  paper  was 
first  used  as  the  receiving  medium,  then  tinfoil  was  tried, 
which  has  given  way  to  a  cylinder  of  wax  that  is  now  ex- 
clusively used  in  the  machines. 

The  best  idea  of  the  machine  will  be  gained  by  a  descrip- 
tion of  one  of  the  tinfoil  instruments,  noting  afterward  the 
important  additions  and  improvements.  This  description 
will  be  given  in  nearly  the  inventor's  own  words : 


THE    PHONOGRAPH.  285 

The  instrument  is  composed  of  three  parts  mainly  ;  namely, 
a  receiving,  a  recording,  and  a  transmitting  apparatus. 

The  receiving  apparatus  consists  of  a  curved  tube,  one 
end  of  which  is  fitted  with  a  mouthpiece.  The  other  end  is 
about  two  inches  in  diameter  and  is  closed  with  a  disc,  or 
diaphragm,  of  exceedingly  thin  metal,  capable  of  being  thrust 
slightly  outward,  or  vibrated,  upon  gentle  pressure  being 
applied  to  it  from  within  the  tubes.  To  the  centre  of  this 
diaphragm  (which  is  vertical)  is  fixed  a  small  blunt  steel 
pin,  which  shares  the  vibrating  motion  of  the  diaphragm. 
This  arrangement  is  set  on  a  table,  and  can  be  adjusted  suit- 
ably with  respect  to  the  second  part  of  the  instrument — the 
recorder. 

This  recorder  is  a  brass  cylinder  about  four  inches  in 
length  and  four  inches  in  diameter,  cut  with  a  continuous 
"  V  "  groove  from  one  end  to  the  other,  so  that  in  effect  it 
represents  a  large  screw.  There  are  forty  of  these  grooves 
in  the  entire  length  of  the  cylinder.  The  cylinder  turns 
steadily  while  the  instrument  is  in  operation,  upon  a  vertical 
axis,  its  face  being  presented  to  the  steel  point  of  the  receiv- 
ing apparatus.  The  shaft  on  which  it  turns  is  provided  with 
a  screw-thread  and  works  in  a  screw  bearing,  so  that  as  the 
shaft  is  turned  (by  handle)  it  not  only  turns  the  cylinder  but 
carries  it  upwards.  The  rate  of  this  vertical  motion  is  such 
that  the  cylinder  behaves  precisely  as  if  its  groove  worked  in 
a  screw  bearing.  Thus,  if  the  pointer  be  set  opposite  the 
middle  of  the  uppermost  part  of  the  continuous  groove  at 
the  beginning  of  this  turning  motion,  it  will  traverse  the 
groove  continuously  to  its  lowest  part,  which  it  will  reach 
after  forty  turnings  of  the  handle.  More  correctly,  perhaps, 
we  might  say  that  the  groove  continuously  traverses  past  the 


286  THE    PHONOGRAPH. 

pointer.  Now  suppose  that  a  piece  of  some  such  substance 
as  tinfoil  is  wrapped  around  the  cylinder.  The  pointer  when 
at  rest  just  touches  the  tinfoil.  But  when  the  diaphragm  is 
vibrating  under  the  action  of  aerial  waves,  resulting  from 
various  sounds,  the  pointer  vibrates  in  such  a  way  as  to  in- 
dent the  tinfoil,  not  only  to  a  greater  or  less  depth  according 
to  the  play  of  the  pointer  to  and  fro,  in  a  direction  square  to 
the  face  of  the  diaphragm,  but  also  over  a  range  all  round 
its  mean  position.  The  groove  allows  the  pressure  of  the 
pointer,  against  the  tinfoil,  free  action.  If  the  cylinder  had 
no  grooves,  the  dead  resistance  of  the  tinfoil,  thus  backed  up 
by  an  unyielding  surface,  would  stop  the  play  of  the  pointer. 
Under  the  actual  conditions,  the  tinfoil  is  only  kept  taut 
enough  to  receive  the  impressions,  but  yielding  sufficiently 
to  let  the  play  of  the  pointer  continue  unrestrained. 

If  now,  a  person  speaks  into  the  receiving  tube,  and  the 
handle  of  the  cylinder  be  turned,  the  vibrations  of  the  pointer 
are  impressed  upon  the  portion  of  the  tinfoil  lying  over  the 
hollow  groove,  and  are  retained  by  it.  They  will  be  more  or 
less  deeply  marked  according  to  the  quality  of  the  sounds 
emitted,  and  according  also,  of  course,  to  the  strength  with 
which  the  speaker  utter  the  sounds,  and  to  the  nature  of  the 
modulations  and  inflections  of  his  voice.  The  result  is  a 
message  verbally  imprinted  upon  a  strip  of  metal.  It  is 
sound  preserved  in  visible  shape.  It  almost  equals  the  story 
of  Baron  Munchausen  hearing  words  frozen,  melting  into 
speech  again.  It  has  been  spoken  of  as  the  crystallization  of 
sound. 

Having  secured  the  record  of  sounds,  of  whatever  nature, 
a  contrivance  is  needed  to  reproduce  them.  This  is  done  by 
the  transmitter,  which  is  a  conical  drum,  having  its  larger  end 


THE    PHONOGRAPH.  287 

open,  and  the  smaller  end,  about  two  inches  in  diameter,  cov- 
ered with  paper  stretched  tight  like  a  drum-head.  In  front 
of  this  diaphragm  is  a  light,  flat,  steel  spring,  held  vertically, 
and  ending  in  a  blunt  steel  point  projecting  from  it  and  corre- 
sponding exactly  with  the  one  on  the  diaphragm  of  the  re- 
ceiver. The  spring  is  connected  with  the  paper  diaphragm 
of  receiver  by  a  silken  thread  just  sufficiently  in  tension  to 
cause  the  outer  face  of  the  diaphragm  to  be  slightly  convex. 
Removing  the  receiving  apparatus  from  the  cylinder  and  set- 
ting the  cylinder  back  to  its  original  position,  the  transmitting 
apparatus  is  brought  up  to  the  cylinder  till  the  steel  point 
just  rests,  without  pressure,  in  the  first  indentation  made  in 
the  tinfoil  by  the  pointer  of  the  receiver.  If,  now,  the  handle  is 
turned  at  the  same  speed  as  when  recording  the  steel  point 
will  follow  the  line  of  impressions,  and  vibrate  in  periods 
corresponding  to  impressions  produced  by  the  point  of  the 
receiving  apparatus.  The  paper  diaphragm  being  thus  set 
into  vibrations  of  requisite  kind  in  number,  depth,  and  side 
range,  there  are  produced  precisely  the  same  sounds  that 
set  the  diaphragm  into  vibration  originally.  Thus  the  words 
of  the  speaker  are  heard  issuing  from  the  conical  drum  in 
his  own  voice,  tinged  with  a  slightly  metallic  or  mechanical 
tone.  If  the  cylinder  is  turned  more  slowly  when  transmitting 
than  in  receiving  the  voice  assumes  a  bass  tone  ;  if  turned 
more  quickly  it  is  given  in  a  treble  voice. 

An  infinite  number  of  copies  can  be  made  of  tinfoil  im- 
pressions by  making  plaster-of-Paris  casts  of  the  original  and 
rubbing  off  impressions  from  it  on  a  clean  sheet  of  foil. 

In  the  last  machines  the  screw-feed  thread  has  been  in- 
creased from  forty  to  one  hundred.  The  recording  stylus  is 
now  a  cup-shaped  affair,  and  gouges  out  rather  than  cuts  in 


288         •  THE    PHONOGRAPH. 

its  motion.  Both  the  recording  and  the  reproducing  styles 
are  now  made  of  sapphire,  as  the  recording  surface  now  em- 
ployed will  turn  the  edge  of  the  sharpest  steel  tool.  They 
are  both  firmly  attached  to  the  face  of  the  one  glass  disc,  or 
diaphragm,  thus  rendering  an  extra  reproducing  disc  unneces- 
sary. The  recording  stylus  is  free  in  its  action  and  has  an 
oscillating  motion,  so  that  it  can  inscribe  any  form  of  sound 
on  the  cylinder. 

A  hinged  weight,  having  a  compound  motion,  is  fixed  to 
the  face  of  the  glass  disc  to  regulate  the  movements  of  the 
reproducing  stylus  and  to  adjust  it  in  case  of  any  inequalities 
in  the  surface  of  the  cylinder.  This  automatic  reproducer 
will  follow  the  track  of  the  recorder  faithfully,  no  matter  how 
irregular  the  surface  may  be. 

The  recording  cylinders  now  in  use  are  a  hard  wax  compo- 
sition of  a  dark  brown  color.  They  are  very  fragile,  and  have 
to  be  handled  with  the  greatest  care.  In  sending  them  from 
place  to  place  it  is  necessary  to  pack  them  most  carefully 
and  send  by  express,  as  transportation  by  mail  is  very  risky. 
These  cylinders  are  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness 
and  are  sloped  toward  one  end.  This  is  done  that  they  may 
conform  to  the  metal  cylinder  on  which  they  are  slipped  to  be 
used.  This  sloping  is  to  prevent  their  reversal  when  they 
are  to  be  used  in  reproduction.  It  is  now  impossible  to  make 
a  mistake  in  putting  them  on  to  the  cylinder. 

At  the  back  of  the  machine  is  a  turning-rest  holding  a  sap- 
phire knife  used  in  cleaning  or  shaving  off  the  surface  of  the 
cylinder  after  its  contents  have  been  transcribed  or  it  is  of  no 
further  service.  Thus  a  fresh  surface  is  presented  for  the 
recording  stylus  to  indent.  This  shaving  may  be  done  from 
thirty  to  a  hundred  times,  according  to  the  thickness  of  the 
shaving  taken  off. 


THE    PHONOGRAPH.  289 

The  receiver  is  a  glass  disc  of  about  eight  thousandths 
of  an  inch  in  thickness.  It  is  set  into  a  metal  cup  and 
thus  held  in  position.  These  receivers  are  manufactured 
abroad. 

Despite  the  number  of  improvements  and  patents,  the 
machine  of  to-day  is  practically  the  same  as  first  issued.  It 
has  not  been  found  necessary  to  make  any  fundamental 
change.  Those  required  have  been  of  practice  rather  than 
of  principle. 

By  abandoning  the  metallic  transmitter  it  was  found  that 
the  unpleasant  metallic  sound  heard  in  transmitting  or  repro- 
ducing was  entirely  done  away  with,  and  that  all  sounds 
could  be  enunciated  by  the  machine  as  accurately  as  received 
by  it.  The  hearing  tubes  of  to-day  are  small  rubber  tubes, 
two  or  three  feet  in  length,  branching  below  the  chin,  when 
held  in  position,  into  a  smaller  tube  for  each  ear,  which  is  fitted 
with  a  hard  rubber  bell.  These  are  held  against  the  ear,  not 
thrust  into  it.  Phonographs  are  now  arranged  so  that 
several  sets  of  these  tubes  can  be  adjusted  for  hearing 
simultaneously.  By  this  means  an  entire  class  is  able  to  lis- 
ten to  a  lecture  at  once. 

It  is  thought  by  many  that  Edison  should  have  a  place 
beside  Columbus,  for  while  the  greatest  of  discoverers  suc- 
ceeded in  locating  the  New  World,  this  new  discoverer,  this 
savant  of  our  day,  has  greatly  increased  its  usefulness  and 
conferred  upon  it  a  new  claim  to  universal  consideration. 

The  inventor  considers  the  main  utility  of  the  phonograph 
to  be  for  purposes  of  letter-writing  and  other  forms  of  dicta- 
tion. The  advantages  in  this  direction  are  numerous.  The 
time  of  the  stenographer  is  entirely  saved,  as  the  "  dictation  " 
can  be  given  when  the  typewriter  is  at  work  at  something 

19 


2QO  THE    PHONOGRAPH. 

else.  Dictation  is  not  necessarily  confined  to  business  hours 
as  the  pronograph  is  always  ready  for  use.  It  never  tires  nor 
grumbles  at  long  hours  or  overwork.  There  is  no  question 
regarding  inaccuracies,  for  the  machine  cannot  speak  a  sin- 
gle word  that  has  not  been  spoken  into  it,  nor  make  a  ques- 
tionable sign  which  may  mean  several  things,  as  is  so  often 
the  case  with  stenographic  outlines.  Neither  dictator  nor 
transcriber  is  limited  in  speed.  It  will  record  as  fast  as  any 
one  can  speak,  and  reproduce  as  rapidly  as  an  expert  can 
follow  it.  It  will  repeat  for  the  transcriber  an  indefinite 
number  of  times  without  losing  its  temper,  and  it  never  asks 
the  dictator  to  repeat  a  word  or  sentence  which  he  thought 
he  had  left  behind  some  time  ago.  The  method  is  so  simple 
that  there  need  be  no  loss  of  time  by  any  one  in  learning  the 
entire  business.  By  the  previous  preparation  of  a  number 
of  cylinders,  several  typewriters  can  be  kept  busy  as  well  as 
one  by  the  ordinary  means,  and  thus  time  and  labor  both 
saved. 

It  is  adapted  to  all  occupations  in  which  writing  plays  a 
prominent  part.  Authors,  lecturers,  clergymen,  and  others 
will  find  its  assistance  invaluable.  One  minister  makes  use 
of  it  in  this  wise :  He  has  a  speaking  tube  running  from  his 
pulpit  to  the  basement  room  of  the  church,  where  is  stationed 
the  phonograph,  in  charge  of  his  son,  who  receives  the  ser- 
mon as  it  is  delivered  and  repeats  it  to  the  instrument.  This 
method  has  been  successful  from  the  first  trial  of  it. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  celebrated  campaign  orator,  who 
upon  being  invited  to  deliver  about  two  hundred  lectures,  at 
widely-separated  points,  procured  the  use  of  several  phono- 
graphs to  record  his  oration,  which  was  then  sent  rapidly  by 
express  to  the  various  appointments,  thereby  rendering  him- 


THE    PHONOGRAPH.  29 1 

self,  as  it  were  ubiquitous.  This  way  is  much  more  satisfac- 
tory than  reading  a  printed  report,  because  not  only  the  words 
spoken  but  the  very  tones  and  inflections  of  the  voice  arev 
faithfully  rendered. 

One  publishing  house  in  Chicago  finds  that  by  the  use  of 
these  machines  there  is  a  wonderful  increase  in  its  productive 
capacity.  This  is  estimated  as  high  as  seventy-five  per  cerat., 
to  say  nothing  of  the  improvement  in  quality  and  the  saving 
in  expense.  The  members  of  this  firm  say  they  would  as  soon 
think  of  going  back  to  tallow  dips  as  a  means  of  illumination 
as  to  abandon  the  phonograph  for  the  stenographer  with  his/ 
uncertain  note-book. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Clancy,  President  of  the  National  Phonographic 
Association,  says  of  the  phonograph :  "  It  is  a  faithful  servant 
and  will  conduct  business  like  a  setting  hen,  and  never  strike 
for  higher  wages." 

Unlike  the  telephone,  it  loses  nothing  said  to  it,  but  leaves, 
a  record  which  may  be  as  enduring  as  time.  It  is  said,  how— 
ever,  that  a  machine  is  to  be  attached  to  the  telephone,  or  az 
combination  of  the  two- instruments  effected  in  such  a  mancier' 
that  a  record  of  telephone  conversations  may  be  secured.. 
Also,  that  there  is  a  machine  to  be  attached  to  pianos  and! 
other  keyed  musical  instruments  to  record  the  music  played 
by  them. 

The  Anthropological  Society  is  using  the  phonograph  fair 
the  purpose  of  recording  and  preserving  the  songs,  folk  lore^ 
and  language  of  the  various  Indian  tribes  which  are  soow 
likely  to  become  extinct.  The  Indians  call  it  "The  Sound! 
Writer  that  Talks."  It  is  equally  valuable  in  the  class-roonii 
as  a  means  of  imparting  oral  information.  For  studies  in 
which  it  is  necessary  to  reproduce  exact  sounds  and  tones,  as- 


29 2  THE    PHONOGRAPH. 

in  the  study  of  foreign  languages,  elocution,  and  the  like,  it 
is  inestimable. 

As  a  practical,  disinterested  critic  is  has  no  equal,  and  by 
its  use  you  may  hear  yourself  as  others  hear  you. 

Although  the  phonograph  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  an 
electrical  invention  it  is  not  in  the  least  dependent  upon  elec- 
tricity for  its  operation  in  any  way.  Electricity  has  been 
applied  as  a  motive  power  because  it  is  considered  as  the 
most  practical,  not  that  it  is  necessary.  Hand  power  was 
first  used,  then  a  foot-power  treadle,  then  a  clock  work  motor, 
.and  finally  the  electric  motor. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  as  the  phonograph  becomes  more 
widely  known  its  merits  will  secure  for  it  almost  universal 
adoption  in  those  professions  and  callings  for  which  it  is  espe- 
cially adapted. 


LIGHTING   BY  GAS. 

^^™^p" 

HERE  is  perhaps  no  more  wonderful  invention  than 
that  which  enables  the  modern  man,  by  the  mere 
turning  of  a  screw  to  flood  his  house  with  a  light 
second  in  brilliancy  and  usefulness  only  to  the  great 
solar  light.  It  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  acuteness  of 
the  scientific  mind  that  it  should  have  dreamed  of  utilizing 
in  this  way  so  elusive  a  thing  as  a  colorless,  formless  fluid, 
whose  very  presence  could  not  be  detected  by  the  eye,  but 
required  the  revealing  touch  of  a  match  to  make  it  visible. 

The  ancients  possessed  slight  knowledge  of  any  aeriform 
bodies,  except  the  atmosphere.  Some  of  the  early  writers 
indeed  made  mention  of  artificial  gases  under  the  designa- 
tion of  spiritus  or  flatus,  but  they  seem  to  have  had  an  im- 
pression that  these  were  but  impurities  of  the  atmosphere. 
Paracelsus,  a  Swiss  alchemist  of  much  renown,  made  the  ob- 
servation that  gas  was  evolved  by  the  action  of  the  oil  of 
vitriol  on  iron,  but  this  discovery  he  appeared  to  regard  as  of 
no  especial  consequence.  The  early  alchemists  by  their  ex- 
periments and  their  ofttime  fruitless  searchings  for  the  unat- 
tainable, learned,  nevertheless,  much  of  natural  objects  and 
natural  science.  And  it  is  to  them  that  the  world  owes  many 
of  the  discoveries  which  have  been  utilized  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind.  It  is  to  an  alchemist,  Van  Helmont,  that  the  dis- 

293 


LIGHTING    BY    GAS. 

covery,  in  1624,  of  the  gaseous  composition  of  atmospheric 
air  is  due.  Observing  carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  Spa  waters  of 
Germany,  he  regarded  it  as  an  aeriform,  elastic  substance, 
which  could  be  obtained  only  by  the  act  of  chemical  decom- 
position. As  it  seemed  more  of  an  essence  than  common  air, 
he  denominated  it  Gheist,  the  German  name  for  ghost  or 
spirit,  and  from  this  is  derived  our  English  word  gas.  It  was 
many  years  before  this  discovery  of  Van  Helmont's  was 
made  the  basis  of  any  practical  use. 

The  manufacture  of  gas  was  without  doubt  suggested  by 
experimenting  with  the  natural  gas  which  issues  from  the 
-earth  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  Strabo,  Plutarch,  and 
other  ancient  authors  speak  of  perpetual  fires  which  burned 
upon  the  altars  of  some  of  their  deities,  and  in  the  works  of 
Herodotus  and  Vitruvius  we  find  mention  of  the  bituminous 
wells  of  the  island  of  Zante,  which  cast  forth  streams  of  in- 
flammable vapor.  To  the  simple-minded  and  superstitious 
people  these  phenomena  were  regarded  as  miraculous  mani- 
festations, and  the  priests  availed  themselves  of  these  fires  to 
inspire  their  credulous  devotees  with  greater  reverence  for 
priestly  supernatural  power.  Such  wells  were  found  in  re- 
mote times  in  India  and  China,  and  the  inhabitants  are  said 
to  have  conveyed  the  gas  through  bamboo  pipes,  and  to  have 
used  it  for  boiling  salt. 

Natural  gas  wells  are  found  also  in  England  and  in  the 
United  States.  In  Bloomfield,  Ontario  County,  New  York, 
•one  of  these  wells  is  said  to  yield  daily  about  four  hundred 
.thousand  cubic  feet  of  gas.  Other  remarkable  gas  wells 
.exist  in  Ohio,  one  of  especial  interest  being  situated  near 
'Gambier.  The  gas  from  this  well  has  continued  to  issue 
^without  cessation  since  1866,  with  no  diminution  of  volume. 


LIGHTING    BY    GAS.  295 

When  a  lighted  match  is  applied  to  the  stream,  as  it  flows 
from  a  two-inch  pipe,  a  flame  twenty  feet  or  more  in  length 
is  produced. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  ancients,  in  whose  theology  fire 
has  always  figured  more  or  less  conspicuously,  should  have 
regarded  such  phenomena  as  natural  fire  issuing  from  the 
ground  with  reverential  awe  and  fear.  It  remained  for  later 
and  less  superstitious  generations  to  not  only  examine  criti- 
cally, but  to  seek  to  artificially  imitate  these  burning  foun- 
tains. In  the  Wigan  coal  district  of  Lancashire,  England,  was 
a  well  on  the  surface  of  whose  waters  a  perpetual  fire  was 
burning.  When  a  light  was  touched  to  this  water,  it  was 
found  to  burn  like  oil.  Mr.  Shirley,  a  gentleman  residing 
near  this  spring,  soon  saw  that  it  was  not  the  water  which 
burned,  but  that  something  emanating  from  the  earth  was 
the  burning  substance.  He  proved  this  by  draining  the  well 
of  its  water,  and  then  setting  fire  to  the  dry  earth  remaining, 
which  immediately  burned  with  a  flame  a  foot  or  more  in 
height.  By  a  series  of  experiments  he  discovered  that  the 
waters  of  the  spring  were  impregnated  with  carburetted  hy- 
drogen gas,  proceeding  from  the  seam  of  coal  underlying  the 
earth  about  the  spring.  Mr.  Shirley  wrote  to  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  London,  describing  his  experiments  with  this  spring, 
and  these  observations  of  his  were,  nearly  a  century  later, 
duplicated  by  a  clergyman,  Rev.  John  Clayton,  who  published 
a  book  containing  an  account  of  his  investigations.  In  1726, 
a  number  of  interesting  experiments  were  conducted  by  Dr. 
Stephen  Hales,  between  whom  and  Mr.  Clayton  rests  the 
credit  of  having  been  the  first  to  produce  gas  by  the  distilla- 
tion of  coal.  In  1733,  Sir  James  Lowther  addressed  a  paper 
to  the  Royal  Society  on  the  subject  of  the  "  inflammable  air  " 


296  UGHTING    BY    GAS. 

which  issued  from  a  coal  pit  near  Whitehaven,  Cumberland. 
This  air,  he  explained,  was  easily  lighted,  and  was  with  diffi- 
culty extinguished.  He  collected  some  of  the  air  in  bladders 
and  burned  it  before  the  Society,  and  so  great  was  the  im- 
pression created  by  his  experiments  that,  some  years  later, 
the  idea  was  broached  of  carrying  this  gas  in  tubes  to  the 
town  for  purposes  of  lighting.  But  this  scheme  was  looked 
upon  by  the  conservative  community  as  wholly  impracticable 
and  chimerical,  and  was  shortly  abandoned. 

In  1767,  the  important  discovery  was  made  by  Dr.  Watson, 
afterward  Bishop  of  Llandoff,  that  coal  gas  does  not  lose  its 
inflammability  or  elasticity  by  being  passed  through  tubes 
immersed  in  water,  which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  its 
illuminating  properties  are  unchanged  by  the  condensation 
of  some  of  its  constituents. 

The*  idea  of  utilizing  the  gas  obtained  by  these  various  ex- 
periments for  illuminating  purposes  seems  first  to  have  oc- 
curred to  a  Scotch  engineer,  William  Murdoch,  living  at 
Redruth,  in  Cornwall.  He  discovered  that,  by  means  of  care- 
fully regulating  the  processes  of  carbonization  and  conden- 
sation, he  could  obtain  a  uniform  product  of  high  illuminating 
power.  He  conceived  the  notion  of  confining  the  gas  in  re- 
ceptacles, and  conveying  it  through  pipes  for  lighting  houses. 
In  this  manner  he  lighted  his  own  house,  carrying  the  gas 
from  his  gas-works,  about  seventy  feet  distant.  He  invented, 
also,  a  portable  gas  lantern,  which  he  used  to  light  his  steps 
on  his  night  excursions  about  the  country.  This  latter 
achievement  was  regarded  with  much  disfavor  and  not  a 
little  apprehension  by  the  superstitious  country  folk  there- 
abouts, and  the  clever  engineer  suffered  the  penalty  of  other 
minds  in  advance  of  their  time  in  being  seriously  suspected 
of  practicing  witchcraft. 


LIGHTING    BY    GAS.  297 

In  1798,  Murdoch  erected  works  for  the  manufacture  of 
gas  at  the  Soho  Foundry  of  Messrs.  Boulton  &  Watt,  near 
Birmingham,  and  became  himself  the  personal  superintendent 
of  the  works.  On  the  occasion  of  the  peace  of  Amiens,  in 
1802,  Mr.  Murdoch  brilliantly  illuminated  the  foundry  with 
unique  devices,  and  the  superiority  of  this  new  mode  of  il- 
luminating was  thus  vividly  impressed  upon  the  admiring 
and  astonished  spectators.  The  use  of  gas  for  lighting  pur- 
poses began,  after  that  time,  to  be  adopted  by  cotton  mills 
and  other  establishments,  although  people  were  strangely- 
slow  in  availing  themselves  of  so  obvious  an  improvement 
on  former  methods.  The  Lyceum  Theatre,  of  London,  was 
the  first  place  of  amusement  lighted  by  gas. 

Gas  had,  like  other  innovations,  to  encounter  much  opposi- 
tion and  scornful  incredulity.  The  great  Napoleon,  who  had 
the  misfortune  to  be  a  man  of  occasional  grave  mistakes,  is 
said  to  have  remarked,  when  informed  of  the  project  of 
lighting  a  city  by  gas:  "Cest  une  grande  folie"  Even  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy  inclined  to  consider  the  whole  matter  as  the 
impractical  dream  of  a  visionary  enthusiast. 

In  1801,  a  Frenchman  named  Le  Bon  had  discovered  the 
secret  of  producing  gas  by  the  distillation  of  wood,  and  had 
used  this  gas  for  lighting  his  own  house.  Before  Le  Bon 
had  carried  out  his  plan  of  illuminating  the  city  of  Paris  with 
this  gas,  another  man  had  arisen  who  proclaimed  himself  the 
inventor  of  gas-lighting.  This  aspirant  for  the  inventor's 
honors  was  a  Mr.  Winsor,  a  German,  who  was  suspected  of 
having  been  an  assistant  of  Le  Bon's,  and  of  having  gained 
the  knowledge  that  he  possessed  from  his  master.  His 
claims  were  widely  disputed,  but  he  persisted  in  his  attempts 
to  establish  a  gas  manufactory  so  untiringly  that  his  efforts 
were  at  length  crowned  with  a  measure  of  success. 


298  LIGHTING    BY    GAS. 

The  first  American  city  to  be  lighted  by  gas  was  Baltimore, 
and  the  first  charter  to  an  American  gas-light  company  was 
granted  in  1816.  Boston  adopted  the  new  mode  of  lighting 
in  1822  and  New  York  in  1823,  and  the  superiority  of  gas 
lighting  over  methods  previously  in  vogue  being  now  fully 
demonstrated  it  was  rapidly  introduced  into  all  the  consider- 
able cities  of  the  country.  The  Baltimore  gas  company  origi- 
nally undertook  the  manufacture  of  gas  from  coal-tar,  but  this 
proving  a  complete  failure,  the  works  were  remodeled,  and  the 
gas  then  made  from  bituminous  coal. 

Many  raw  materials  may  be  employed  in  the  production  of 
illuminating  gas.  Almost  any  combustible  body  when  dis- 
tilled yields  gaseous  products  available  for  generating  light. 
Among  materials  which  have  been  used  for  this  purpose  are 
coal,  wood,  resin,  peat,  oil,  fats,  bones,  and  other  substances. 
Bituminous  coal  is,  however,  most  largely  used,  being  for 
many  reasons  the  most  successful  material.  When  this  coal 
is  burned  in  air  it  is  mostly  converted  into  gases  which  com- 
bine with  oxygen,  but  when  the  air  is  excluded,  as  is  the  case 
when  coal  is  burned  in  retorts,  these  gases,  not  being  able  to 
unite  with  oxygen,  may  be  collected  into  receptacles,  thence 
conducted  into  tubes  and  burned.  A  great  number  of  gases, 
liquids  and  solids,  are  produced  by  the  distillation  of  coal,  the 
principal  of  these  being  coke,  tar,  olefiant  gas,  and  sulphu- 
retted hydrogen.  The  products  of  distillation  are  dependent 
upon  the  degree  of  heat  to  which  the  coal  is  subjected.  At 
a  low  temperature  the  weight  of  coke  in  the  retort  will  be  less, 
and  the  amount  of  carbon  remaining  in  combination  with  hy- 
drogen greater,  but  these  hydrocarbons  will  be  mainly  liquid 
and  solid,  not  gaseous.  At  a  high  temperature,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  greater  will  be  the  weight  of  coke  or  carbonaceous 


LIGHTING    BY    GAS.  299 

residue,  and  the  proportion  of  permanent  gases  and  their 
lightness  also  will  increase  in  proportion  to  the  heat.  They 
may  be  composed  almost  wholly  of  hydrogen  and  carbonic 
oxide.  A  moderate  temperature  is  preferable  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  gas,  and  the  quality  of  coal  or  other  substance  used 
will  also  condition  this. 

In  the  production  of  gas  from  coal,  as  also  from  wood, 
resin,  or  petroleum,  the  material  is  subjected  to  three  different 
processes.  These  are  :  First,  distillation  of  the  crude  gas ; 
second,  the  separation  of  the  gas  from  condensable  matter,  as 
tar,  etc. ;  third,  the  purification  of  the  gas  from  all  injurious 
and  undesirable  gases.  For  the  purpose  of  distillation  the 
coal  or  other  material  is  put  in  fire-clay  retorts  placed  in  fur- 
naces, one  furnace  being  arranged  to  hold  from  five  to  ten  re- 
torts. 

A  large  gas  establishment  may  contain  as  many  as  a  hundred 
furnaces.  Iron  was  formerly  used  for  making  these  retorts, 
but  fire-clay  has  been  proved  to  be  more  durable  and  fully  as 
impervious.  The  coal  is  placed  in  the  retort,  which  has  been 
raised  to  a  red  heat,  and  a  heat  of  about  twenty-two  hundred  de- 
grees applied  to  it  for  five  hours.  By  this  means  the  solid  and 
o-aseous  products  of  distillation  are  obtained,  and  the  volatile 
gases,  being  all  except  the  coke,  are  passed  into  a  tube  in- 
serted in  a  hydraulic  main.  A  portion  of  the  gases  are  here 
condensed,  and  those  still  uncondensed  pass  into  another 
large  pipe  to  be  carried  to  the  cooler  and  condenser,  where 
they  are  conveyed  through  a  series  of  peculiarly-shaped  pipes 
surrounded  with  water.  From  the  condenser  the  gas  passes 
to  another  apparatus  designed  for  still  further  purification. 

In  some  gas  works  what  is  called  a  washer  is  employed  for 
this  latter  service,  consisting  of  a  vertical  chamber  through 


LIGHTING    BY    GAS. 


which  the  gas  is  passed,  and  at  the  same  time  subjected  to 
repeated  spraying  from  jets  of  water.  The  impurities  which  still 
remain,  being  chiefly  sulphuretted  hydrogen  and  carbonic  acid, 
are  then  removed  by  still  another  process.  The  gas  is  for 
this  purpose  sometimes  passed  through  milk  of  lime,  which  is 
called  the  wet  lime  process,  or  through  layers  of  protochloride 
of  iron  mixed  with  quick-lime,  or  sulphate  of  iron  and  slaked 
lime.  Much  care  is  required  in  the  management  of  these 
slaked-lime  purifiers,  as  the  gas  is  apt  to  escape  and  combin- 
ing with  the  air  to  form  a  dangerous  explosive,  from  which 
grave  accidents  have  resulted. 

The  illuminating  power  of  the  gas  depends  chiefly  upon 
the  amount  of  olefiant  gas,  heavy  carbu retted  hydrogen, 
which  it  contains,  the  majority  of  the  other  gases  being  car- 
riers rather  than  producers  of  light.  The  luminosity  is  also 
affected  by  other  things,  depending  much  upon  the  form  of 
the  burner.  If  burned  in  a  very  tall  chimney,  so  that  a  rapid 
current  is  produced,  it  has  been  observed  that  the  illuminating 
power  of  gas  may  be  greatly  lessened.  Small  or  thin  flames 
are  also  undesirable,  since  the  thinner  the  flame  the  greater 
is  the  exposure  to  the  oxygen  in  the  air,  and  the  swifter  con- 
sumption of  the  solid  portions  of  carbon.  By  the  careful 
distillation  of  two  thousand  pounds  of  good  bituminous  coal, 
eight  thousand  cubic  feet  of  purified  illuminating  gas  may  be 
produced. 

Connected  with  the  gas  works  are  meters,  by  which  the 
volume  of  gas  is  registered  before  it  passes  to  the  reservoirs. 
From  the  reservoirs  it  is  conveyed  through  cast-iron  main 
pipes  through  the  streets,  and  from  these  in  small  wrought- 
iron  pipes  into  buildings. 

Other  materials,  besides  coal,  have  been   employed  with 


LIGHTING    BY    GAS.  30 1 

varying  degrees  of  success  in  the  production  of  illuminating 
gas.  Le  Bon's  experiment  with  wood,  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, was  not  found  practicable,  as  the  gas  produced  was  infe- 
rior in  illuminating  power  to  that  manufactured  from  coal  in 
England.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  was  that  the  heat 
used  was  not  sufficient  to  produce  the  heavier  hydrocarbons. 
Professor  Pettenkofer,  of  Munich,  showed,  by  experiments,  that 
the  gases  evolved  by  the  carbonization  of  wood  consist  almost 
wholly  of  carbonic  acid,  carbonic  oxide,  and  marsh  gas. 
Olefiant  gas,  on  which  the  illuminating  power  largely  depends, 
was  nearly  wanting.  But  he  proved  that  the  tarry  substances 
and  vapors  produced  would,  when  subjected  to  a  much  greater 
heat,  produce  a  large  quantity  of  heavy  hydrocarbon  gas.  It 
is  necessary,  therefore,  in  the  manufacture  of  wood  gas,  that 
there  should  be  retorts  for  changing  the  wood  into  tarry 
vapors,  and  others,  where,  by  the  application  of  a  higher  heat, 
these  may  be  converted  into  permanent  gases.  The  hydro- 
carbons in  wood  gas  have  been  found  to  have  an  illuminating 
power  one-half  greater  than  that  of  an  equal  volume  of 
olefiant  gas.  It  has  a  specific  gravity  somewhat  greater  than 
that  of  average  coal  gas,  which  necessitates  the  use  of  burn- 
ers with  larger  orifices.  The  production  of  gas  from  wood 
has  been  for  some  time  successfully  accomplished  in  Ger- 
many. 

Gas  has  been  made  from  resin,  and  a  product  of  high  illumi- 
nating power  has  resulted.  It  was  some  years  ago  employed 
in  Philadelphia  to  add  to  the  richness  of  coal  gas,  and  several 
towns  in  the  southern  part  of  the  United  States  still  manu- 
facture it,  but  the  limited  quantities  of  the  raw  material  ren- 
der it  unavailable  for  extensive  use.  Petroleum  has  been 
much  used  in  Germany,  Austria,  and  Russia,  and  also  to  some 


3O2  LIGHTING    BY    GAS. 

extent  in  the  United  States  for  the  making  of  gas.  The  raw 
oil  is  conveyed  from  a  reservoir  into  cast-iron  retorts,  heated 
red  hot,  and  from  these  it  passes  into  an  apparatus  for  puri- 
fying it,  in  which  hydrochloric  acid  is  one  of  the  agents  em- 
ployed. It  is  estimated  that  one  hundred  weight  of  Penn- 
sylvania oil  will  produce  about  sixteen  hundred  feet  of  gas. 
This  gas  is  the  richest  made,  two  hundred  cubic  feet  of  this 
being  considered  as  nearly  equal  in  illuminating  power  to 
one  thousand  feet  of  coal  gas. 

The  last  material  which  an  unscientific  mind  would  pro- 
nounce available  for  the  production  of  gas  would  doubtless 
be  water,  and  yet  many  inventors  have  received  patents  for 
making  gas  from  water.  It  was  discovered  that  when  steam 
was  forced  through  retorts  in  which  were  red-hot  coke,  char- 
coal, or  anthracite,  there  were  generated  hydrogen,  carbonic 
oxide,  carbonic  acid,  and  a  small  amount  of  light  carburetted 
and  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gases.  Purification  by  means 
of  lime,  or  lime  and  oxide  of  iron,  removed  the  carbonic  acid 
and  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  the  gases  remaining  might 
then  be  used  for  purposes  of  heating,  or,  by  one  of  two  pro- 
cesses, might  be  available  for  illuminating.  These  processes 
are,  by  heating  coils  of  platinum  wire  in  the  flame,  or  by  im- 
pregnating it  with  hydrocarbon  vapors,  or  by  uniting  it  with 
permanent  hydrocarbon  gases,  the  latter  being  found  the  most 
satisfactory  means. 

Selligue,  a  French  gas  engineer,  invented  a  process  for 
manufacturing  water  gas,  having  received  the  suggestion 
which  led  to  his  invention  from  Jobard,  of  Brussels.  This 
appliance  consisted  of  a  furnace  provided  with  three  vertical 
cylindrical  retorts,  two  of  which  were  filled  with  charcoal  or 
coke.  Steam  was  passed  into  the  first  retort,  where  the 


LIGHTING    BY    GAS.  303 

various  gases  were  evolved.  They  were  then  conveyed  into 
the  second  retort,  where  the  carbonic  acid  was  changed  by 
the  red-hot  coke  or  other  burning  material  into  carbonic 
oxide.  From  this  they  were  carried  to  a  third  retort,  in  which 
a  stream  of  oil  from  bituminous  shale  flowed  over  red-hot 
iron  chains.  A  Mr.  White,  of  Manchester,  patented  later  a 
process  designated  as  the  English  hydrocarbon  process,  in 
which  the  retorts  were  quite  similar  to  those  used  in 
making  ordinary  coal  gas.  Anthracite  is  said  to  be  used 
more  satisfactorily  in  the  production  of  water  gas  than  either 
coke  or  coal. 

The  employment  of  electricity  in  late  years  as  an  illumi- 
nating agent  has  given  rise  to  the  belief  in  many  minds  that 
it  may  in  turn  supersede  gas  altogether,  but  there  seems  as 
yet  little  ground  for  such  apprehension.  Both  gas  and  elec- 
tricity as  a  means  of  lighting  appear  to  possess  superiority, 
in  the  application  to  different  purposes,  and  so  long  as  that 
is  the  case  there  would  be  found  no  reason  for  the  sole  em- 
ployment of  the  one  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other,  unless, 
indeed,  electric  lighting  should  prove  a  far  cheaper  mode  of 
illuminating,  and  that  seems  yet  a  thing  to  be  demonstrated. 


SUBTERRANEAN   EXPLORATIONS. 

VISIONARY  and  extravagant  accounts  of  the  wonders 
and  wealth  concealed  in  the  depths  of  the  sea  have 
always  obtained  ready  credence.  Alluring  stories  of 
the  sunken  Spanish  galleons  laden  with  gold,  silver, 

and  precious  stones  have  tempted  many  a  bold  diver 
to  his  destruction.  The  sunken  treasures  of  Captain  Kidd, 
Black  Beard,  and  other  daring,  if  less  known  pirates  have 
been  responsible  for  many  attempts  to  solve  the  mysteries 
of  the  deep.  In  narratives  of  ancient  date  we  are  told  that 
the  pearl  and  sponge  divers  of  the  East  were  able  to  remain 
under  water  two  hours  without  the  aid  of  air-giving  appara- 
tus. It  is  needless  to  say  that  no  such  endurance  is  possible. 
The  depth  to  which  they  could  descend  and  the  time  of  their 
immersion  have  been  much  exaggerated.  A  skilled  diver — 
without  extraneous  aid — can  remain  under  water  but  two  or 
possibly  three  minutes.  In  a  diving  and  swimming  contest 
between  some  North  American  Indians  and  Englishmen  in  a 
London  swimming  bath,  one  of  the  Indians,  a  noted  swimmer 
and  diver,  remained  under  water  just  one  minute  and  a  half, 
but  a  London  artisan  beat  him  by  a  few  seconds.  A  few 
rapid  respirations  before  the  diver  makes  the  final  plunge 
will  enable  him  to  remain  longer  under  water.  It  can  be 
readily  understood  that  if  the  blood  be  forced  to  take  an 

7O4 


SUBTERRANEAN  EXPLORATIONS.  305 

excess  of  oxygen  a  longer  time  should  elapse  before  a  fresh 
supply  would  become  necessary.  Many  divers  without  appa- 
ratus suffer  severely  from  the  continual  efforts  to  hold  the 
breath.  Spitting  of  blood  and  inflamed  eyes  are  common 
among  them.  At  the  close  of  the  pearl  and  sponge  diving 
seasons  the  divers  emerge  from  their  labors  with  golden 
locks  that  would  be  the  envy  of  a  belle  of  civilization.  This 
is  a  sufficiently  curious  phenomenon  when  seen  in  connec- 
tion with  the  black  and  shining  epidermis  of  the  Malay  pearl 
diver.  This  curious  change  is  brought  about  by  the  chemical 
action  of  the  water.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  efforts  of 
the  primitive  diver  were  directed  to  the  acquisition  of  some 
of  the  vast  wealth  supposed  to  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
and  only  incidentally  to  the  gathering  of  sponges  and  pearls. 
As  civilization  advanced  and  the  need  arose  for  the  build- 
ing of  the  foundations  of  piers  and  bridges  and  the  explora- 
tion and  raising  of  sunken  vessels,  the  attention  of  engineers 
and  philosophers  was  turned  to  the  discovery  of  a  contri- 
vance for  aiding  the  diver  in  prosecuting  his  dangerous  but 
important  calling.  The  aquatic  kettle,  described  by  Tais- 
nier  as  having  been  used  by  two  Greeks  in  Spain,  at  Toledo, 
in  1538,  in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V  and  a  vast 
multitude  of  spectators  is  one  of  the  earliest  reliable  accounts 
of  a  diving  bell.  It  was  similar  in  construction  and  principle 
to  the  modern  diving-bell,  but  clumsy  and  cumbersome  and 
wanting  in  efficient  means  of  renewing  the  supply  of  air, 
Dr.  Halley,  the  noted  English  astronomer,  made  some  valu- 
able experiments  with  the  diving-bell  in  1720,  but  it  was  not 
until  i  788  that  Smeaton's — the  one  now  in  use — was  made 
and  found  to  fit  the  requirements  of  submarine  explorations. 
The  Greeks,  by  far  the  most  richly  endowed  in  constructive 
20 


306  SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS. 

imagination  of  any  of  the  ancient  people,  gave  little  thought 
to  the  regions  beneath  the  sea.  The  true  love  of  the  deep 
and  interests  in  its  hidden  regions  has  been  confined  to  the 
people  of  modern  days,  and  especially  to  the  people  of 
Northern  regions. 

The  principle  of  the  construction  of  the  modern  diving- 
bell  may  be  readily  understood  by  placing  an  insect  or  two 
upon  a  cork  in  a  pail  of  water,  invert  a  tumbler  over  the  cork, 
then  push  the  apparatus  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel ;  on 
raising  the  glass  to  the  surface  the  little  voyagers  will  come 
up  perfectly  safe  and  unsoaked.  The  diving-bell  as  now 
used  consists  of  a  cast-iron  chest,  weighing  about  five  tons 
and  suspended  by  blocks  and  tackle. 

On  the  top  of  the  bell  there  are  eight  apertures  fitted  with 
very  thick  glass  for  admitting  light,  and  in  the  centre  is  the 
passage  into  which  the  hose  is  screwed  for  admitting  the  air 
supply.  The  interior  is  fitted  with  two  seats  which  can  be 
removed  to  make  room  when  the  men  are  at  work,  and  in  the 
centre  is  a  lifting  chain  to  which  stones  are  attached  to  facili- 
tate their  being  lifted  and  properly  adjusted  to  the  beds  on 
which  they  are  to  be  laid.  The  bell  is  used  according  to  two 
different  systems,  depending  on  the  nature  of  the  work  to  be 
performed.  In  building  masonry  under  water  it  is  suspended 
from  a  staging  of  timber,  but  in  excavating  rock  or  removing 
boulders  scattered  over  a  considerable  area  where  a  staging 
would  be  impracticable,  it  is  suspended  from  a  barge  or 
lighter.  The  invention  of  the  diving  dress,  like  that  of  most 
useful  appliances,  was  graduate  and  the  work  of  many  minds. 
The  diving  dress,  known  as  the  open  dress,  first  invented  in 
1829,  although  excellent  in  many  of  its  features,  precluded 
the  possibility  of  the  wearer  being  in  any  other  than  an  up- 


SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS.  3O/ 

right  or  slightly  sloping  position ;  if  he  fell  on  his  face  or 
side  there  was  great  danger  of  drowning.  The  need  of  a 
dress  that  would  meet  the  requirements  of  any  position  the 
diver  might  be  placed  in  led  to  the  invention  of  what  is 
known  as  the  close  dress,  which  is  now  in  universal  use.  The 
long-continued  work  of  divers  in  connection  with  the  removal 
of  the  wreck  of  the  "  Royal  George  "  suggested  many  im- 
provements in  dress  and  equipments,  which  have  stood  the 
tests  imposed  upon  them.  The  diving  dress  envelopes  the 
whole  body  of  the  diver — the  upper  portion  being  the  helmet, 
the  intermediate  portion  being  the  breast-plate,  and  the  lower 
portion  the  dress.  The  water-proof  material,  of  which  the 
dress  is  made,  is  generally  of  sheet  India  rubber,  covered  on 
both  sides  with  tanned  twill  to  protect  the  India  rubber  from 
injury. 

The  sponge,  coral,  and  pearl  fisheries,  originally  carried  on 
only  by  naked  divers,  are  now  conducted  to  a  great  extent 
by  artificial  aids.  At  moderate  depths,  not  exceeding  thirty 
to  forty  feet  and  in  clear  water,  sufficient  light  is  transmitted 
to  enable  the  diver  to  perform  any  ordinary  work,  but  in 
working  in  turbid  water  candles  are  employed.  An  electric 
and  an  oil  lamp  have  been  constructed  which  can  be  employed 
by  divers  requiring  the  use  of  a  light  at  great  depths. 

The  depth  at  which  diving  can  be  safely  conducted  is  a 
question  of  importance.  The  ordinary  depth  at  which  diving 
has  been  employed  in  harbor  work  is  from  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  feet,  and  it  has  been  used  sixty  feet  at  Dover.  With  the 
diving  dress  much  greater  depths  have  been  attained.  In 
removing  the  cargo  of  a  sunken  ship  off  South  America,  a 
diver  named  Hooper  made  seven  descents  to  a  depth  of  two 
hundred  and  one  feet,  and  remained  below  forty-two  consecu- 
tive minutes.  This  feat  is  said  to  be  unparalleled. 


308  SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS. 

It  is  difficult  for  a  diver  to  walk  against  even  a  moderate 
tide,  and  men  who,  by  accident,  get  on  the  tide  side  of  their 
work  generally  have  to  be  hauled  up  to  their  boat  and  low- 
ered down  again  in  order  to  get  on  the  windward  side  of  it. 
There  is  less  difficulty  in  making  bell  divers  than  hemlet 
divers,  probably  on  account  of  their  working  in  company — 
there  being  always  two  men  in  a  bell,  and  the  same  amount 
of  self-reliance  is  not  needed.  The  sensations  experienced 
in  a  diving-bell  are  common  in  greater  or  less  degree  to  all 
divers ;  when  the  bell  first  touches  the  water  pain  in  the  ears 
and  above  the  eyes  is  felt,  which  continue  while  the  bell  is  in 
motion.  When  the  bottom  is  reached,  there  is  a  cessation 
of  these  symptoms,  which  are  replaced  by  a  feeling  of 
depression,  the  acuteness  of  which  depends  on  the  depth  of 
submersion.  The  motion  of  the  bell,  up  or  down,  is  very 
gradual — not  exceeding  three  feet  per  minute,  but  even  at 
that  slow  rate  the  pains  in  the  head  are  considerable 

The  workmen  accustomed  to  subaqueous  existence  do  not 
feel  these  inconveniences,  but  the  novice  suffers  greatly. 
The  work  is  unsuitable  for  any  but  the  most  robust — those 
of  a  full  habit  of  body  being  in  as  great  danger  as  the  weak 
and  bloodless.  A  melancholy  interest  attaches  to  all  suba- 
queous explorations.  In  imagination  we  see  the  whitening 
bones  of  the  pirate  beside  the  ghastly  skeleton  of  his  hapless 
prey — the  bolting,  beams,  and  planks  of  the  merchantman — 
freighted  at  its  setting  out  with  high  hopes  of  the  fortune  to 
be  won ;  its  harbor,  alas  !  the  twilight-calm  and  awful  hush 
of  the  abysmal  depths  of  ocean. 

The  ancients  used  to  say  that  the  ocean  was  the  son  of  the 
sky  and  the  land,  and  father  of  the  rivers  and  fountains.  Had 
it  occurred  to  them,  they  might  have  carried  the  simile  still 


SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS.  309 

further,  and  said  that  the  earth  was  the  child  of  the  deep,  for 
everywhere  upon  its  surface  the  ocean's  bed  is  only  covered 
by  a  few  inches  of  alluvial  soil. 

Until  recently  the  physical  and  biological  conditions  of  the 
deep  sea  were  entirely  unknown,  and  likely  to  so  remain. 
The  idea  of  a  lifeless  waste  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  was  so 
generally  prevalent  that  any  evidence  to  the  contrary  would 
scarcely  secure  the  least  attention.  It  was  thought  that 
organisms,  brought  up  by  the  sounding  line,  were  met  and 
captured  in  transit.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  early  in- 
vestigators were  very  great.  The  diver  was  restricted  in  his 
work  to  about  twenty  fathoms,  or  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet.  At  this  depth  there  was  a  pressure  upon  him  of  five 
atmospheres,  or  seventy-five  pounds  a  square  inch,  which 
was  equal  to  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds 
on  the  entire  body. 

It  is  said  of  this  time :  "  The  restless  intellect  of  man, 
which,  ages  before,  had  sought  to  solve  the  riddle  of  the  Uni- 
verse, to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  the  stars,  to  make  tribu- 
tary to  itself  all  time  and  all  space,  scarcely  cast  a  glance  of 
interest  toward  the  great  world  of  life  under  the  waters." 
Soundings  had,  indeed,  been  made.  They  had  even  been 
dignified  with  the  name  of  "  deep-sea  soundings,"  but  those 
descending  to  the  greatest  depths  possible  only  touched  the 
peaks  of  some  submerged  mountain  range,  or  brought  to 
view  some  specimens  of  the  life  on  some  lofty  plateau,  or 
table  land,  of  the  great  volcanic  chains.  But  modern  science 
and  ingenuity  have  set  before  us  the  bounds  and  measure- 
ments of  this  submarine  realm,  and  it  has  become  geo- 
graphically known  to  us.  The  contour  of  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean  has  been  found  to  be  not  unlike  that  of  the  land  above 


3IO  SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS. 

it.  Mountain  systems,  deep  gorges,  valleys  and  plains 
abound.  Between  the  types  of  life  in  sea  and  land  there  is  a 
sort  of  inverted  analogy.  They  become  fewer  as  they  recede 
from  the  sea  level,  and  the  conditions  are  more  severe. 

The  first  exploration  of  these  submarine  areas  was  effected 
by  means  of  the  sounding  lead  and  line.  By  them  the  depth 
was  ascertained,  and  fragments  of  earth  brought  to  the  sur- 
face for  examination.  The  primitive  instrument  used  was  a  sin- 
gle prismatic  block  of  lead,  weighing  from  eighty  to  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  pounds.  On  the  upper  end  is  fixed  a  ring, 
to  which  the  line  is  attached.  When  a  sounding  is  to  be  made, 
the  lower  end,  or  base  upon  which  it  rests,  is  coated  with  tal- 
low, and  the  lead  plunged  rapidly  into  the  water.  In  moder- 
ate depths  the  slackening  of  the  line  indicates  that  the  lead 
has  encountered  an  obstacle  and  will  go  no  further,  but  in 
great  depths  this  method  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  give  cor- 
rect information  or  accurate  results.  Should  the  line  be 
strong  enough  to  sustain  the  weight  of  any  considerable  part 
of  its  own  length  besides  the  weight  of  the  attached  lead,  it 
will  be  too  stiff  and  heavy  to  be  carried  plumb  to  the  bottom 
by  the  lead  ;  should  it  be  any  lighter,  it  breaks  under  the 
strain  required  of  it.  An  improvement  on  this  device  was 
introduced  into  the  United  States  Navy  some  years  ago.  A 
fine  line,  the  length  of  which  has  been  measured,  has  a  heavy 
weight  attached  to  it.  It  is  quickly  lowered  into  the  water. 
When  the  pull  upon  the  line  ceases  it  is  at  once  cut,  and  the 
length  of  the  missing  line  represents  the  depth.  But  this 
would  only  record  measurements.  The  soil  and  sand  secured 
by  the  other  method  gave  important  information  as  to  the 
nature  and  composition  of  the  ocean's  bed.  But  these  speci- 
mens were  so  small  that  it  was  soon  found  necessary  to  adopt 


SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS.  31  I 

some  more  satisfactory  means  for  the  pursuit  of  scientific  in- 
vestigations. For  this  reason  dredging  was  resorted  to,  and 
has  proved  eminently  successful. 

The  idea  of  deep-sea  dredging  had  been  entertained  by 
the  scientific  world  for  a  long  time  before  actual  experiments 
in  that  line  were  made.  It  was  thought  to  be  a  possibility, 
but  neither  a  motive  for  its  undertaking,  nor  the  means  of  its 
accomplishment  were  at  hand.  Later  the  commercial  world 
required  a  more  direct  and  speedy  means  of  commercial  in- 
tercourse across  the  ocean,  so  the  first  proof  of  the  feasibility 
of  deep-sea  exploration  was  in  response  to  a  practical,  not 
scientific  demand.  The  necessity  for  laying  the  various  tele- 
graphic cables  supplied  the  wanting  incentive,  as  well  as  the 
perfection  of  the  appliances  requisite  to  carry  out  the  work. 
It  had  been  demonstrated  that  dredging  at  depths  could  be 
done,  and  that,  too,  in  the  face  of  numerous  difficulties,  but 
as  it  was  a  process  so  laborious  and  requiring  so  many  fa- 
voring conditions  for  its  successful  performance,  it  became 
necessary  to  secure  some  more  effective  and  simple  ma- 
chinery for  gaining  the  required  information  of  the  physical 
peculiarities  of  the  ocean's  bed.  This  resulted  in  a  combi- 
nation of  the  sounding  line  and  the  dredge. 

There  are  several  forms  of  these  instruments  in  use 
amongst  naturalists.  One  is  described  as  a  huge  pair  of  for- 
ceps which  form  a  chamber  when  closed.  The  arms  are  held 
asunder  by  a  bolt,  and  it  is  heavily  weighted.  Upon  striking 
the  bottom  the  bolt  is  displaced,  the  forceps  close  upon  the 
mud  of  the  sea  bed,  and  the  instrument  is  ready  for  the  up- 
ward pull  with  its  inclosed  freight.  Another  and  more 
popular  form  consists  of  a  tube  of  metal,  whose  lower  ex- 
tremities are  provided  with  valves  that  open  upward.  The 


312  SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS. 

tube  passes  through  a  perforation  in  the  cannon  ball,  used 
as  a  weight  to  the  instrument.  When  the  end  of  the  tube 
strikes  the  earth,  the  mud,  sand,  or  whatever  there  is  there 
for  it  to  encounter,  fills  the  tube  through  the  opening  valve. 
The  weight  is  disen^a^ed  and  the  valve  closes  as  the  instru- 

o  o     o 

ment  is  drawn  up  through  the  water.  The  tube  may  be 
unscrewed  and  the  contents  examined  at  leisure. 

The  principle  of  the  detaching  weight,  which  was  invented 
by  pass-midshipman  Brookes,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  is 
of  incalculable  value,  as  it  enables  the  deep-sea  explorer  to 
accomplish  his  purpose  with  less  labor  and  less  machinery 
and  secures  the  great  advantage  to  be  acquired  in  the  use 
of  a  fine  line.  Frequent  and  carefully  repeated  soundings 
by  this  method  show  the  error  of  the  earlier  investigators. 
The  old  method  reports  various  lengths  of  thirty-four,  thirty- 
nine,  forty-six,  and  even  fifty  thousand  feet  of  line  as  having 
been  paid  out,  at  different  points,  without  finding  bottom. 
By  the  new  method,  working  .in  exactly  the  same  localities, 
there  has  been  found  no  greater  depth  than  twenty-four 
thousand  feet. 

When  it  became  necessary  to  lay  the  cable  there  could  be 
no  guess  work  about  its  bed.  The  consequences  were  far 
too  momentous  to  admit  of  mistakes,  or  even  the  question 
of  a  peradventure.  The  information  must  be  exact. 

The  Mediterranean  telegraphic  cable  was  stretched  in 
1857.  It  worked  satisfactorily  until  1860,  when  it  was  dis- 
covered that  it  was  severed  in  seventy  fathoms  of  water  and 
about  two  miles  from  shore.  After  much  angling  for  it  and 
strenuous  effort,  the  sea  end  was  secured  and  brought  up. 
That  portion  of  it  which  had  lain  in  the  deep  sea  was  covered 
with  marine  life.  Thus,  the  first  news  from  the  profound 


SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS.  313 

depths  may  truly  be  said  to  have  been  a  telegraphic  message. 
A  list  of  these  organisms  was  made  out  and  recorded  by  Dr. 
Allman.  The  depth  varied  from  seventy  fathoms  to  one  and 
a  half  miles.  All  former  methods  could  not  be  implicitly  re- 
lied upon,  because,  as  has  been  already  said,  the  sounding 
line  might  bring  up  animals  from  any  depth,  and  there  was 
no  known  way  of  ascertaining  whether  their  true  habitat  was 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  or  not. 

Dredging  before  the  preliminary  work  for  the  laying  of 
this  cable  had  seldom  been  deeper  than  six  hundred  feet. 
Any  device  or  machinery  hitherto  in  use  was  greatly  inade- 
quate for  the  giant  enterprise  which  at  this  time  confronted 
the  scientists.  At  this  juncture  Great  Britain  came  to  the 
front  with  an  offer,  not  only  of  all  known  appliances  best 
adapted  for  the  work,  but  vessels,  seamen,  and  a  corps  of 
naturalists,  sufficient  to  execute  the  plan.  They  were  able 
to  dredge  and  sound  to  a  depth  of  nearly  three  miles  with 
perfect  success.  In  earlier  attempts  the  labor  of  hauling  in 
the  rope  was  excessive.  The  use  of  an  engine  for  this  pur- 
pose was  now  introduced. 

It  is  estimated  that  by  means  of  deep-sea  explorations  one 
hundred  and  forty  million  square  miles  have  been  reclaimed 
from  scientific  death.  This  surface,  on  which  it  was  pre- 
viously supposed  that  nothing  could  exist,  has  been  proved 
to  be  teeming  with  rich  and  exquisite  forms  of  animal  life, 
no  less  varied  than  the  fauna  of  the  shallower  waters. 
These  organisms  are  celebrated  for  their  soft  and  beautiful 
colors,  their  wonderful  phosphorescence  of  rainbow  tints,  and 
their  elaborate  and  delicate  formations.  There  are  continu- 
ally being  brought  to  light  new  wonders  and  beauties,  which 
elicit  great  admiration,  both  for  their  intrinsic  value  and  for 


314  SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS. 

their  aid  in  the  solution  of  this  weighty  problem.  The  report 
of  the  cruises  of  the  "  Porcupine  "  and  "  Lightning  "  show  that 
hauls  made  at  depths  of  three  thousand  and  more  feet,  as  well 
as  those  of  six  thousand  feet,  proved  life  to  be  abundant  at 
each  depth.  There  were  fifty-seven  of  the  former  hauls  and 
sixteen  of  the  latter. 

In  two  casts  taken  off  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  at  a 
depth  of  nearly  three  miles,  characteristic  specimens  of  all 
five  sub-kingdoms  of  the  invertebrates  were  brought  to  the 
surface,  carefully  examined  and  classified.  Thus  was  finally 
settled  the  existence  of  a  profusion  of  'animal  life  in  the  pro- 
foundest  depths.  The  specimens  brought  up  by  the  broken 
cable,  before  alluded  to,  were  not  merely  clinging  lightly  to 
the  surface,  but  were  firmly  cemented  to  it,  and  many  gave 
evidence  of  having  grown  there.  These  deep-sea  organisms 
are  adapted  to  the  locations  in  which  they  are  found.  They 
are  so  constructed  that  the  intense  pressure  upon  them  does 
not  seriously  affect  them.  On  account  of  the  low  temperature 
of  the  water  they  do  not  reduce  their  own  temperature  by 
exercise.  Sharks  taken  from  these  great  depths  are  incapable 
of  movement  when  brought  to  the  surface,  while  those  that 
live  at  the  top  always  have  to  be  struck  and  gashed  to  quiet 
them. 

The  geographical  distribution  of  animal  life  depends  upon 
the  deep-sea  temperature,  which  is  not  determined,  as  it  is  on 
land,  by  the  latitude.  The  water  is  generally  colder  as  we 
descend,  and  it  is  o  degree  at  the  ocean  depths.  In  some 
places  the  water  forms  what  is  called  a  "cold  wall,"  with  cur- 
rents flowing  around  it.  In  immediate  proximity,  in  the 
North  Atlantic  Ocean,  lie  areas  which  show  varying  tempera- 
tures of  several  degrees.  It  was  formerly  believed  that  water 


SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS.  315 

at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  was  of  uniform  temperature,  and 
that  about  thirty  degrees  all  over  the  earth,  but  like  the  older 
determinations  of  depth  this  theory  must  now  be  discarded. 
The  extreme  cold  of  the  deep  sea  does  not  retard  abundant 
and  vigorous  animal  life,  but  vegetable  life  is  not  found,  on 
this  account,  together  with  the  absence  of  light,  which  is 
essential  to  vegetable  growth  and  development.  Some  of 
these  latter  forms  drift  from  the  spot  where  they  grow,  and 
sink  to  the  bottom,  but  the  abyssal  darkness  sustains  no  life 
of  this  kind.  The  animals  of  these  great  depths  must  live 
somehow,  must  be  sustained  by  organic  matter.  How  do 
they  get  it  ?  To  be  sure  the  higher  forms  can  prey  upon  the 
lower,  but  how  are  the  lowest  forms  nourished  ?  This  has 
long  been  a  question  under  discussion  by  scientists,  and 
several  methods  have  been  suggested,  but  it  all  has  resulted 
in  the  proof  that  the  water  holds  the  suitable  matter  in  solu- 
tion for-  their  sustenance,  and  that  they  appropriate  it  through 
absorption. 

The  Sargossa  Sea,  that  vast  marine  meadow  occupying 
three  million  square  miles  in  the  middle  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  yields  an  immeasurable  supply  of  this  material,  the 
great  oceanic  currents  transport  it,  every  river  and  stream 
adds  its  quota  to  the  ocean,  every  bed  of  seaweed  contributes 
its  share,  and  all  these  become  the  purveyors  to  the  waiting 
life  at  the  bottom.  This  life  at  the  depths  is  usually  of  a 
jelly-like  consistency,  capable  of  taking  nourishment  only  in 
a  soluble  form.  The  individuals  possess  few  if  any  organs  or 
special  functions.  They  receive  their  nourishment  through 
absorption  through  the  exposed  surfaces  of  their  bodies. 

Their  method  of  breathing  was  another  problem  to  be 
solved.  The  ocean  water  has  atmospheric  air  diffused 


31  6  SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS. 

through  it  at  all  depths,  as  is  proved  by  analysis.  Air  is  as 
necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  the  lives  of  marine  animals 
as  to  those  of  the  land,  though  in  much  smaller  quantities. 
Carbonic  acid  is  a  product  of  respiration,  and  the  layer  of 
water  immediately  above  this  vast  layer  of  organic  life  is 
found  to  be  destitute  of  oxygen,  but  surcharged  with  carbonic 
acid  gas.  This  is  invariably  the  case.  But  by  diffusion  this 
gas  is  taken  away  by  the  water  and  the  oxygen  substituted 
for  it.  By  this  means  the  respiration  of  the  deepest  fauna  is 
provided  for  through  three  miles  of  intervening  water.  The 
water  is  aerated  by  every  disturbance  at  the  surface. 
Every  breeze  or  gale  that  skims  or  ploughs  the  top,  and 
every  paddle  or  other  device  which  dips  into  the  surface 
helps  on  the  good  work,  and  does  its  part  toward  supporting 
the  life  at  the  bottom. 

The  depths  of  the  Mediterranean  hold  no  life.  This  is 
owing  to  the  absence  of  vertical  currents  in  the  water,  as 
there  is  but  little  variation  in  the  different  strata  of  water, 
and  the  requisite  commotions  do  not  exist.  As  this  body  of 
water  is  locked  within  high  walls  never  less  than  ten  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  profounder  depths,  only  superficial 
currents  through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  can  operate  through- 
out its  expanse. 

Superstition  played  its  part  in  hindering  early  investigation, 
as  the  sailors"  often  tossed  overboard  the  most  valuable  of 
specimens,  because  "  it  was  unlucky  to  keep  them  on  board 
the  boat." 

Doubts  that  the  bottom  of  the  sea  were  really  a  vast  azoic 
waste  were  induced  by  the  reports  of  Dr.  Wallich,  the 
naturalist  to  the  "  Bull-dog"  sounding  expedition,  under  Sir 
Leopold  McClintock,  that  he  had  brought  from  twelve  hun- 


SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS.  317 

dred  fathoms,  starfishes  with  stomachs  filled  with  the  deep- 
sea  foraminifers. 

One  of  the  later  additions  and  improvements  added  to  the 
dredging  apparatus  is  a1  trawl,  or  net.  These  make  the  work 
far  more  effective.  The  trawl  has  an  open  mouth,  so  hung 
and  arranged  that  any  animals  disturbed  by  the  movements 
of  the  machine  naturally  swim  or  float  into  the  net.  They 
have  long,  frayed  tassels  to  further  entangle  the  passing  or 
adjacent  organisms.  These  tassels  were  added  because  it 
wras  found  that  so  many  specimens  attached  themselves  to  the 
outside  of  the  trawl.  The  first  ones  tried  were  the  swabs 
used  for  cleaning  the  decks.  Captain  Calver  first  used  them. 
They  are  now  large  bunches  of  "  teazed-out "  hemp.  The 
deepest  successful  haul  of  the  trawl  was  made  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  in  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
fathoms  of  water,  that  of  Ball's  dredge,  the  one  now  most 
commonly  in  use,  was  made  in  the  Atlantic,  in  three  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fifty  fathoms. 

The  earliest  record  of  deep-sea  dredging  is  that  of  Sir  John 
Ross,  in  his  Arctic  Expedition,  in  one  thousand  fathoms  of 
water.  He  brought  up  evidences  of  life  at  this  depth.  Sir 
John  Franklin  obtained  the  same  results. 

In  1864,0.  O.  Sars,  a  distinguished  Swedish  naturalist,  was 
sent  by  the  government  of  that  country  upon  an  expedition 
connected  with  the  Commisson  on  Fisheries,  and  he  dredged 
within  the  Arctic  Circle.  He  brought  up  numerous  forms  of 
animal  life.  His  investigations  proved  that  there  was  now 
existent  a  mature  form  of  crinoid  which  had  before  only  been 
known  as  a  fossil  of  the  Oolitic  period.  This  discovery  led 
to  the  pursuit  of  other  and  further  explorations  under  the 
auspices  of  the  British  Government,  by  the  "  Lightning  "  and 
"  Porcupine.". 


31 8  SUBTERRANEAN    EXPLORATIONS. 

The  very  first  naturalist  to  use  the  dredge  was  Otto 
Frederick  Muller,  a  Danish  zoologist,  of  the  last  century.  He 
operated  about  1770-79  and  systematically  investigated  the 
fauna  of  the  sea.  In  1779116  published  his  admirable  De- 
scriptions and  History  of  the  Rare  and  Less  Known  Animals 
of  Denmark  and  Norway. 

After  this  but  little  was  heard  about  dredging  until  Dr. 
Robert  Ball  introduced  the  modern  dredge  named  after  him. 

Until  recent  date  there  has  not  much  attention  been  paid 
to  dredging  in  the  United  States.  In  1867,  Professor  Pearce, 
superintendent  of  coast  survey,  commissioned  Count  F.  L. 
Pourtales,  one  of  his  officers,  to  make  dredgings  in  connec- 
tion with  the  laying  out  of  a  track  for  the  cable  between  Key 
West,  Florida,  and  Havana.  These  results  were  so  satis- 
factory that  dredgings  were  subsequently  conducted  through 
all  the  adjacent  waters. 

The  "Challenger,"  a  corvette  of  two  thousand  three  hundred 
and  six  tons  burthen,  fitted  out  and  dispatched  by  the  British 
Government  in  the  winter  of  1872,  on  a  cruise  of  circum- 
navigation for  dredging  purposes,  did  the  most  systematic 
and  satisfactory  work  in  this  line  that  had  been  accomplished. 
It  had  the  most  liberal  and  complete  organization  for  the 
purpose.  Nothing  seemed  lacking.  Powerful  engines  hauled 
in  the  dredge,  libraries,  laboratories,  and  work-rooms  were 
provided,  and  a  staff  of  the  ablest  naturalists  were  there  to 
conduct  investigations  and  to  attend  to  the  packing  and 
preservation  of  the  specimens  required  for  future  examina- 
tions. 

There  have  been  several  varieties  of  the  dredge,  or  dredge 
attachments.  The  Prince  of  Monaca  used  one  with  an  elec- 
tric light  attached  to  attract  the  fishes.  There  were  dredges 


SUBTERRANEAN  EXPLORATIONS.  319 

used  by  the  Suez  Canal  Company  having  connected  with 
them  an  apparatus,  or  battering  ram,  for  breaking  away  the 
rock  obstructions. 

The  world  has  been  long  engaged  in  submarine  investiga- 
tions. Diving  for  oysters  was  practiced  in  Homer's  time. 
Roger  Bacon  says  that  Alexander  was  possessed  of  some 
artificial  means  of  seeking  out  the  secrets  of  the  deep. 
Bladders  over  the  mouth  were  the  first  contrivance  for  artifi- 
cial assistance  in  diving.  In  the  year  380  the  diving  cap  was 
in  use.  In  an  expedition  of  the  Greeks  against  Syracuse 
divers  were  employed  who  sawed  the  wooden  stockades 
placed  under  water  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  to  prevent 
the  Greek  ships  from  entering. 

The  result  of  all  this  investigation  is  to  teach  us  to  newly 
comprehend  the  ocean.  "  Its  bosom  which  so  teems  with 
animal  life ;  its  face,  upon  which  time  writes  no  wrinkles,  are, 
it  would  seem,  as  obedient  to  the  great  law  of  change  as  any 
other  denartment  of  nature." 


MINING— GOLD  AND  SILVER 

£Y  OME  one   has  said  that  gold  and  silver  sway  the 
\C     movements  of  human  life  as  potently  as  the  sun  and 
/    1  moon  sway  the  tides  of  the  ocean.     There  have  been 
^^X    those  who  worshiped  fame,  honor,  beauty,  country — 
but  the  devotees  of  the  cold,  hard,  glittering  silver  and 
gold  have  in   every  land,  in  every  clime,  far  outnumbered 
them  all.     For,  if  to  worship  a  thing  be  to  fix  one's  whole 
mind  and  heart  steadfastly  upon  it,  to  desert  one's  home  and 
kindred,  one's  friends  and  sacred  honor  for  it,  then   more 
people  in  the  civilized  world  to-day  bow  the  knee  to  the 
"  Almighty  dollar  " — be  it  a  gold  or  a  silver  dollar — than  to 
any  other  deity.     And  this  they  do  because  gold  and  silver 
may  be  transmuted  into  almost  every  other  material  good. 
We  may  lament  the  worship  of  the  material,  but  we  are  com- 
pelled to  admit  while  we  deplore. 

The  fact  that  the  oldest  records  of  the  human  race  make 
mention  of  gold  and  silver,  proves  that  the  art  of  mining  dates 
from  a  period  of  remotest  antiquity.  The  Old  Testament 
refers  frequently  to  these  metals,  disclosing  that  they  were 
always  accounted  riches.  The  processes  of  beating  gold,  of 
making  it  into  wires,  as  also  of  weaving  it  into  linen  for 
priestly  garments,  were  known  to  the  Jewish  people.  They 
likewise  used  it  as  a  setting  for  precious  stones,  and  the  tem- 
320 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  321 

pie  of  Solomon  was  profusely  decorated  with  goid.  We  read' 
of  the  beams  and  pillars  of  ancient  temples  being  covered 
with  plates  of  silver  and  gold,  and  that  the  tiles  upon  the- 
reof of  the  temple  at  Ecbatana  were  made  of  solid  silver., 
Idolatrous  nations  have  in  all  times  been  wont  to  fashion  their 
idols  of  gold  and  silver,  the  lavishness  with  which  the  precious 
metals  were  employed  for  these  purposes  clearly  demonstrat- 
ing the  existence  of  mines  both  marvelously  rich  and  easily 
accessible. 

A  story  which  has  to  modern  ears  an  Oriental  largeness  of 
ring  to  it,  yet  well  illustrates  the  ancient  abundance  of  the^. 
precious  metals.  It  is  of  the  captive  Inca  of  Peru,  who,  to- 
purchase  his  royal  freedom,  promised  to  collect  within  two 
months  gold  articles  enough  to  fill  nine  feet  in  depth  a  room 
twenty-two  feet  long  by  seventeen  wide.  This  gold,  when 
placed  in  the  crucible  and  melted  yielded  no  less  than  one 
million  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  pesos  de  oro, 
a  sum  equal  to  about  fifteen  million  dollars.  Truly  a  costly 
ransom. 

Concerning  the  mines  and  mining  operations  of  antiquity,, 
classic  writers  have,  however,  left  little  on  record.  The  land 
of  Ophir,  regarding  whose  exact  location  no  one  can  now 
speak  authoritatively,  although  it  is  supposed  to  have  been1 
the  East  Indies,  or  the  southeast  coast  of  Africa,  was  the 
region  from  which  the  Phoenicians  and  Israelites  obtained, 
their  gold.  The  rich  gold  mines  of  Ethiopia  and  Nubia  are. 
supposed  to  have  been  the  sources  from  which  the  Pharaohs, 
of  Egypt  derived  their  enormous  wealth.  The  Phoenicians 
are  known  to  have  mined  for  gold  and  other  metals  in  Sar- 
dinia, and  to  have  worked  mines  in  Spain,  presumably  for 
lead  and  silver 
21 


322  MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER, 

Prior  in  time  to  the  mining  of  the  Phoenicians  was  that  of 

o 

the  Egyptians,  who  worked  successfully  rich  mines  of  gold, 
silver,  and  copper  in  both  Arabia  and  Ethiopia.  Ruins  of 
mining-  works  in  the  Sinaitic  desert  are  believed  to  be  the  re- 

o 

mains  of  early  Egyptian  mines.  The  gold  mines  of  Croesus 
in  Asia  Minor  continued  to  be  worked  down  to  the  time  of 
Zenophon,  but  later  writers  speak  of  the  supply  of  gold  from 
these  mines  having  become  exhausted.  The  Grecians  mined 
silver  from  very  productive  mines  in  Attica,  and  rich  gold 
mines  in  Thrace  and  Thasos,  and  there  are  evidences  that 
mining  was  carried  on  by  the  inhabitants  of  Western  Europe 
before  the  time  of  the  Romans.  The  early  mines  of  Spain 
were  exceedingly  rich,  and  the  Spanish  silver  mines  were 
among  the  first  to  be  worked.  Pliny  makes  mention  of  a  mine 
in  what  is  now  the  province  of  Seville,  which  afforded  a  daily 
yield  of  three  hundred  pounds  of  silver. 

Rome,  by  her  successive  conquests,  gained  in  time  control 
of  all  the  most  valuable  mines  of  that  period,  including  those 
of  Spain,  Sicily,  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and  Egypt.  Slave  labor 
was  largely  employed  in  these  mines,  which  were  leased  by 
the  government  to  persons  who  did  not  scruple  to  plunder 
the  republic  of  her  mineral  treasures.  The  output  from  the 
mines  was  enormous,  and  many  of  them  were  exhausted. 

There  are  in  the  United  States  traces  of  mining  in  pre- 
historic times,  but  such  ancient  mines  have  been  found  only 
in  the  copper  districts  of  Lake  Superior,  and  in  parts  of  New 
Mexico.  The  implements  found  in  these  deserted  mines 
convey  some  idea  of  the  methods  employed  by  the  primitive 
miners.  Miners'  tools  of  peculiar  design  have  been  discov- 
ered in  many  of  the  ancient  pits.  Among  these  are  great 
numbers  of  stone  hammers  and  copper  chisels,  wooden 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  323 

shovels,  bowls,  and  the  like.  The  Portage  Lake  and  Onton- 
agon  district  have  furnished  many  curious  and  interesting 
relics  of  these  ancient  miners,  who  are  believed  by  some  to 
have  belonged  to  the  race  of  the  pre-historic  mound- 
builders. 

The  great  demands  upon  the  mines  Kuon,  during  the 
Middle  Ages  had  resulted  in  despoiling  these  storehouses  of 
their  hidden  wealth,  and  in  the  absence  of  new  discoveries 
of  mines,  the  metallurgists  made  countless  futile  endeavors 
to  find  a  means  of  transmuting  the  baser  metals  into  gold. 
But,  although  many  an  alchemist  staked  both  fame  and 
fortune  on  such  ventures,  no  success  was  ever  known  to 
crown  their  efforts.  The  amount  of  gold  and  silver  in  the 
Old  World  just  previous  to  the  discovery  of  America  is  said 
to  have  fallen  to  thirty-four  million  pounds,  the  diminished 
product  from  the  mines  being  no  more  than  sufficient  to 
make  good  the  loss  by  wear  destruction  of  the  metals  in  cir- 
culation. 

But  the  newly-discovered  world,  by  the  profusion  of  its 
riches,  speedily  much  more  than  made  up  to  the  Old  World 
for  the  famished  condition  of  the  old  mines.  In  consequence 
of  the  vast  importations  of  the  precious  metals,  compared 
with  that  of  other  commodities,  their  value  rapidly  declined, 
and  mines  which  had  heretofore  been  worked  with  a  profit, 
now  no  longer  paid  for  working.  It  has  been  estimated  that 
there  was  exported  from  the  mines  of  America  into  Europe, 
during  the  eight  years  following  the  discovery  of  the  New 
World,  gold  to  the  value  of  fifty-two  thousand  pounds,  and 
the  annual  yield  scarcely  diminished  up  to  1521.  Until  1819, 
gold  alone  was  imported  from  America.  The  conquest  of 
Mexico  caused  large  quantities  of  both  gold  and  silver,  es- 


324  MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER. 

pecially  the  latter,  to  flow  into  European  countries.  In  1545,. 
the  discovery  of  the  mines  of  Potosi  augumented  still  further 
the  production  of  silver.  After  that  time  no  accurate  data 
are  furnished  for  determining  the  relative  proportion  of  the 
two  precious  metals.  Some  one  has,  however,  roughly  esti- 
mated that  the  amount  of  gold  exported  to  the  Old  World  by 
the  New  during  the  first  three  hundred  years  after  its  dis- 
covery was  equal  to  three  and  a  half  times  the  entire  yield 
of  the  old  mines,  while  the  quantity  of  silver  exported  was 
twelve  times  the  Old  World  product. 

Russia  was,  previous  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California, 
the  greatest  gold-producing  country  in  the  world.  The 
Russian  gold  region  was  formerly  in  the  Ural  district,  but  in 
the  time  of  Nicholas,  an  exceedingly  rich  gold  country,  esti- 
mated to  be  as  large  as  the  whole  of  France,  was  brought  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  government  in  Southern  and  Eastern 
Siberia.  The  yield  from  this  district  alone  in  1843  was  about 
eleven  million  dollars.  The  average  annual  production  is 
now  about  fifteen  million  dollars. 

Gold  was  first  discovered  in  Australia  in  1839,  by  Count 
Strzelecki.  He  at  once  made  known  his  discovery  to  the 
governor  of  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales,  but  the  latter 
personage,  being  of  the  opinion  that  the  presence  of  a  great 
number  of  convicts  in  the  colony  made  it  undesirable  to  pro- 
claim the  gold  secret  immediately,  prevailed  upon  the  Count 
to  refrain  from  publishing  it  abroad.  Several  other  persons 
made  within  a  few  years  succeeding  the  discovery  that  Aus- 
tralia was  rich  in  yellow  metal,  but  not  until  1851  occurred 
the  "find,"  which  resulted  in  placing  the  former  convict 
province  foremost  among  the  gold-producing  countries  of  the 
world.  Once  it  was  noised  throughout  the  world  that  gold 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  325 

In  large  quantities  had  been  found  in  New  South  Wales,  a 
great  immigration  to  this  region  took  place.  Extensive  min- 
ing operations  soon  revealed  gold  deposits  far  surpassing  in 
richness  the  fondest  dreams  of  the  most  imaginative  pros- 
pectors. It  was  calculated  that  the  amount  of  gold  exported 
from  Victoria  and  New  South  Wales,  within  a  period  of 
fifteen  months,  was  nineteen  million  five  hundred  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  nearly  four  times  the  supposed  annual  pro- 
duction of  the  entire  world  previous  to  that  time.  The  most 
extensive  o-old  mines  of  Australia  are  in  Victoria.  The 

o 

Australian  gold  has  a  higher  color  than  the  gold  of  California, 
and  is  of  finer  quality. 

Gold  in  the  United  States  is  found  mainly  in  two  regions, 
the  one  extending  along  the  Atlantic  slope,  designated  as 
the  Appalachian  region,  the  other  extending  along  the  Pacific 
Coast  through  California  and  the  adjoining  States  and  Terri- 
tories. The  Appalachian  gold  region  stretches  down  through 
portions  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  sections  of  Alabama  and  Tennessee,  in  a  belt  varying 
greatly  in  width,  being  in  some  places  more  than  seventy-five 
miles  in  lateral  extent.  The  largest  proportion  of  gold  found 
in  this  region  has  been  in  North  Carolina,  in  which  State 
occur  two  auriferous  belts  extending,  the  one  in  a  southwest- 
erly the  other  in  a  northeasterly  direction.  Gold  is  said  to 
have  been  found  in  the  Southern  States  at  an  early  period  in 
the  country's  history,  but  it  is  only  since  the  opening  of  the 
present  century  that  the  Southern  gold  region  has  received 
any  special  attention.  North  Carolina  had  been  until  1827 
the  only  State  from  which  any  considerable  quantity  of  gold 
was  obtained,  but  South  Carolina  and  Virginia  shortly  after 
that  date  be^ran  to  contribute  a  moderate  amount  of  the 


326  MINING — GOLD    AND    SILVER. 

precious  metals  to  the  national  supply.  The  entire  amount 
of  Southern  gold  presented  at  the  mints  and  assay  offices  of 
the  United  States  from  the  first  working  of  the  mines  to  the 
year  ending  in  June,  1873,  reached  a  value  of  something  over 
twenty  million  dollars. 

The  gold  and  silver  mines,  upon  which  rests  the  mineral 
fame  of  the  United  States,  are  of  course  those  of  the  Pacific 
slope  region.  Gold  had  been  supposed  to  exist  in  California 
•for  several  hundred  years  before  the  great  discovery  of  1848. 
A  priest  at  the  Mission  of  San  Jose,  had,  in  a  book  published 
in  Spain  in  1690,  made  mention  of  the  finding  of  gold  upon 
the  placers  of  Upper  California,  and  other  writers  at  later 
times  declared  that  the  country  possessed  an  abundance  of 
gold,  occurring  in  nuggets  of  from  two  to  eight  pounds.  The 
discovery  of  1848  is,  however,  claimed  to  have  had  an  acci- 
dental origin,  the  abundant  presence  of  the  precious  metal 
being  revealed  to  a  party  of  Americans  engaged  in  repairing 
a  mill-race.  The  news  spread  in  time  throughout  the  Union, 
and  then  came  the  celebrated  gold  days  of  1849,  a  period  of 
mining  excitement  unparalleled  in  history.  A  tide  of  emigra- 
tion immediately  poured  into  California  from  the  Eastern 
States,  Mexico,  South  America,  and  even  from  Europe  and 
China,  as  soon  as  the  fabulous  stories  of  the  hidden  wealth  had 
reached  the  public  ear.  In  less  than  six  months,  four  thousand 
men  were  reported  at  work  on  the  new  gold  site,  their  labors 
resulting  in  a  daily  output  of  from  thirty  to  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  Every  mountain  and  hill  that  bore  traces  of  an 
auriferous  formation  was  tunneled  and  bored  by  these  eager 
gold  seekers.  The  sands  of  the  rivers  were  washed  and 
made  to  yield  up  their  grains  of  wealth. 

The   great   gold   region   of  California  is  situated  on  the 


MINING — GOLD    AND    SILVER.  327 

western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  embraces  a  belt  of 
country  about  five  hundred  miles  in  length  and  forty  miles  in 
width.  The  gold  veins  occur  in,  or  in  close  contact  with  clay 
and  sandstone  formations,  and  likewise  in  granite  and  lime- 
stone rocks.  The  greatest  production  of  California  gold  has 
been  from  the  placers,  these  deposits  being  found  in  the  beds 
of  rivers,  and  also  in  what  are  supposed  to  be  ancient  water- 
courses. Gold  is  obtained  in  less  abundance  than  in  Califor- 
nia in  many  other  of  the  Western  States  and  Territories, 
noticeably  in  Nevada — where  it  occurs  chiefly  in  combination 
with  the  silver  ore  in  the  great  Comstock  vein — in  Colorado, 
Montana,  Washington,  Idaho,  and  Arizona. 

Silver  mining  in  the  United  States  dates  almost  wholly  from 
the  discovery  of  the  Comstock  lode  in  1859,  although  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona  had  previously  yielded  small  amounts  of 
the  white  metal.  The  Comstock  vein  in  richness  far  surpasses 
the  famous  mines  of  Spain  and  Mexico,  the  product  for  the 
single  year  of  1874  amounting  to  twenty-three  millions  of 
dollars.  The  "  Big  Bonanza"  mine  in  the  Comstock  lode  is 
the  richest  mine  in  the  world.  It  was  discovered  in  1874.  The 
average  yield  of  ore  from  this  lode  is  about  eight  hundred 
dollars  per  ton,  but  certain  drifts  have  produced  even  two 
thousand  dollars  to  the  ton,  and  specimens  have  been  found 
which  contained  eight  thousand  dollars  of  pure  silver  in  a  ton 
of  quartz.  The  bullion  from  the  Comstock  lode  yields  in 
combination  with  the  silver,  gold,  in  value  about  one-third. 
Little  silver  is  produced  in  the  Eastern  States.  A  small  quan- 
tity is  found  in  combination  with  the  native  copper  of  the 
Lake  Superior  mines,  and  the  Silver  Islet  mine  and  other 
Northern  Michigan  mines  have  vielded  considerable  amounts 
of  argentiferous  ore. 


328  MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER. 

Much  of  the  world's  gold  and  silver  has  come  from  Mexico, 
whose  mineral  wealth  has  been  famous  for  ages.  Among  the 
treasures  of  Montezuma,  the  silver  is  said  to  have  been  far 
less  in  quantity  than  the  gold,  but  since  the  opening  of  the 
silver  mines  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  yield  of  silver  from 
Mexico  has  exceeded  that  from  all  other  countries.  From 
South  America  has  been  derived  also  large  supplies  of  both 
gold  and  silver,  the  mines  of  Brazil,  Peru,  Chili,  and  other 
sections  being  of  wondrous  extent  and  richness.  The  yield 
from  South  America  has  much  diminished  of  late  years,  but 
there  are  believed  to  be  districts  possessing  gold  and  silver 
in  great  abundance,  which,  from  the  unheathiness  of  the 
climate,  as  well  as  from  political  causes,  have  been  almost 
wholly  unworked.  Images  made  of  gold  have  been  discovered 
on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  in  the  graves  of  aboriginal  dwell- 
ers, which  imply  the  existence  of  ancient  mines  whose  loca- 
tions are  now  unknown. 

Gold  is  found  usually  in  metallic  form,  in  scales,  nuggets, 
or  grains.  Native  gold  is  found  invariably  in  combination 
with  from  one  to  forty  per  cent,  of  silver.  No  analysis  of 
gold  has  yet  been  made  which  did  not  give  evidence  of  at 
least  a  small  amount  of  silver.  Gold  is  found  often,  also,  in 
combination  with  various  other  metals,  as  with  iron  and  cop- 
per. Gold  ores,  properly  so  called,  are  of  rare  occurrence.  It 
is  usually  scattered  in  small  particles  through  the  quartz, 
when  existing  in  rocks,  and  found  in  dust  or  nuggets,  when 
in  sand  or  gravel.  Gold  is  distinguished  as  quartz  gold, 
such  as  is  found  in  veins  or  lodes,  and  wash  gold,  that  obtained 
from  placers,  gravel  deposits,  and  the  like.  By  native  gold  is 
meant  an  alloy  of  gold  and  silver  with  some  iron,  copper,  and 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  329 

other  metals.     It  is  in  this  form  of  combination  that  most  of 
the  gold  found  in  the  world  is  obtained. 

Silver  is  often  found  in  the  native  state,  although  usually 
this  metal  is  obtained  from  the  sulphuret.  Silver  does  not- 
appear  in  sands  or  gravel,  but  always  in  rocks,  and  instead 
of  being  in  minute  particles,  it  is  found  in  veins  or  masses  of 
-ore.  A  yield  of  forty  dollars  per  ton  of  pure  gold  ore  is  a 
very  rich  product,  while  a  yield  of  one  hundred  dollars  per 
ton  is  not  an  unusually  rich  product  from  a  silver  mine.  Pure 
silver  in  the  mass  is  the  whitest  metal  known.  It  is  harder 
and  stronger  than  gold,  and  in  malleability  and  ductility  is 
second  only  to  the  yellow  metal.  As  a  heat-conducting 
medium  it  surpasses  all  other  metals,  this  among  other  proper- 
ties rendering  it  best  qualified  to  retain  the  heat  of  liquids. 
Silver  alloys  readily  with  most  metals  on  melting.  It  occurs 
so  invariably  in  alloy  with  gold  that  some  one  has  said  they 
may  almost  be  said  to  constitute  but  one  mineral  species, 
which  should  range  "from  silver  with  a  slight  trace  of  gold  to 
gold  with  a  slight  trace  of  silver." 

It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  gold  is  confined  to  the 
rocks  of  one  geological  period,  but  this  is  an  error.  In  Col- 
orado gold  is  found  in  rocks  of  the  eozoic  age,  while  in  the 
Appalachians,  the  gold  is  deposited  in  strata  of  the  palaeozoic 
age.  The  gold-bearing  strata  of  Nova  Scotia  are  slates  and 
sandstones,  which  are  supposed  to  date  back  to  the  lower 
Cambrian  period.  The  strata  of  Wales  and  of  Australia  be- 
long also  to  this  period.  The  gold  of  California  is  said  to  be 
mainly  in  strata  pertaining  to  the  Jurassic  period,  but  it  is  be- 
lieved that  part  of  the  auriferous  rocks  of  that  country  are  of 

the  eozoic  ao-e. 
& 

The  crumbling  and  falling  to  pieces  of  the  gold-bearing 


33O  MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER. 

rocks  causes  the  gold  in  grains  to  be  swept  down  to  lower 
levels,  thus  forming  deposits  of  gold  in  river-beds.  These 
often  become  covered  with  clay  or  sand  to  such  a  depth  that 
the  real  nature  of  the  auriferous  formation  is  not  suspected. 
Gold  is  sometimes  found  in  such  veins  in  great  abundance, 
and  by  washing  away  the  covering  of  clay  or  sand  the  nug- 
gets of  gold  may  be  obtained.  In  such  deposits  have  been 
discovered  the  largest  nuggets  of  gold  ever  found.  The 
largest  nugget  in  the  world  is  claimed  to  be  that  called  the 
"  Sarah  Sands,"  which  was  found  in  Australia,  and  weighed 
two  hundred  and  thirty-three  pounds  and  four  ounces  troy. 
The  purest  specimen  of  gold  known  is  said  to  be  one  ob- 
tained from  the  Ural  Mountains  in  Yekaterinburg,  in  which 
the  proportion  of  gold  in  one  hundred  parts  of  metal  was 
ninety-eight  and  ninety-six  hundredths.  The  yield  of  the 
California  mines  is  exceedingly  rich,  being  very  near  the 
pureness  of  the  American  and  French  gold  coins,  which  is 
nine  hundred  in  one  thousand  parts.  The  average  propor- 
tion of  gold  in  the  product  of  the  California  mines  is  eight 
hundred  and  eighty  thousandths ;  that  of  Australia  is  nine 
hundred  and  sixty-three  thousandths.  The  richest  gold  mine 
in  the  world  is  said  to  be  the  Douglas  mine,  in  Australia.. 
The  output  from  this  mine  is  in  value  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  a  month. 

Gold  mining  is  accomplished  by  a  mechanical  or  a  chemi- 
cal process,  or  a  combination  of  both,  depending  upon  the 
nature  and  location  of  the  deposit.  Washing  is  the  mechan- 
ical means  most  generally  resorted  to  for  separating  the  gold 
from  the  substances  with  which  it  is  found  in  union.  Many 
different  ways  of  performing  this  operation  have  been  in- 
vented, the  location  and  circumstances  determining  which  is 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  331 

the  most  feasible  in  each  instance.  The  method  called  pan- 
ning  consists  in  washing  the  earth  or  pulverized  rock  in  a 
vessel  in  such  a  manner  that  the  fine  earth  particles  are 
swept  over  the  edge  of  the  vessel,  leaving  the  gold  with  the 
larger  stones  behind.  The  stones  are  then  removed,  and  the 
process  continued  until  nothing  but  the  gold  mixed  with 
black  sand,  usually  titaniferous  iron,  which  latter  may  be 
either  blown  away  or  expelled  by  a  magnet.  Quicksilver  is 
sometimes  used  to  separate  the  fine  gold  from  the  other 
materials. 

The  rocker  is  an  invention  something  like  a  cradle,  contain- 
ing a  sheet-iron  bottom  riddled  with  half-inch  perforations. 
The  earth  containing  gold  is  placed  in  the  hopper,  and  water 
is  then  poured  upon  it,  the  rocker  being  at  the  same  time 
kept  in  motion  so  as  to  let  the  earth  with  the  fine  particles  of 
gold  pass  through  the  holes,  which  are  not  large  enough  to 
permit  the  passing  of  the  coarser  stones.  The  sluice  is  usu- 
ally a  long  wooden  trough,  through  which  the  gold-bearing 
dirt  is  made  to  pass  by  the  agency  of  a  constantly  flowing 
stream  of  water.  Various  inventions  are  made  use  of  to 
catch  the  gold  after  it  is  freed  from  the  baser  substances, 
mercury  being  much  used  to  assist  in  this  end. 

The  hydraulic  process,  which  was  invented  in  Placer  County, 
Cal.,  in  1852,  is  the  most  celebrated  gold-mining  process.  By 
this  method  a  stream  of  water  under  enormous  hydraulic 
pressure  is  hurled  upon  the  mass  of  gold-bearing  ore,  which 
has  been  prepared  by  blasting  for  the  action  of  the  water. 
So  great  is  the  force  of  this  water  torrent  that  great  frag- 
ments of  rock,  earth,  and  gravel  are  torn  apart  and  swept  like 
sand  grains  into  the  vast  sluices  awaiting  their  reception.  By 
the  employment  of  the  hydraulic  process  the  cost  of  working 


332  MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER. 

many  California  mines  has  been  greatly  reduced.  Some  one 
has  made  an  estimate  of  the  average  cost  of  handling  a  cubic 
yard  of  gravel  by  the  various  mechanical  processes,  reckon- 
ing the  wages  of  the  miners  at  four  dollars  a  day.  He  found 
the  cost  thus  calculated  to  be  respectively :  by  the  panning 
process,  twenty  dollars  ;  in  the  rocker,  five  dollars ;  with  the 
long  torn,  one  dollar;  by  the  hydraulic  method  and  sluices, 
five  cents.  Quartz  gold  is  obtained  by  pulverizing  the  rock 
containing  the  gold,  and  then  separating  the  precious  metal 
from  the  quartz  by  washing  and  amalgamating.  The  smelt- 
ing processes  are  the  same  for  the  extraction  of  both  gold 
and  silver.  For  the  separation  of  the  two  metals  always 
found  together,  the  nitric  acid  and  sulphuric  acid,  or  the  chlo- 
rine process  is  generally  employed. 

The  methods  of  obtaining  silver  from  the  ores  may  be 
denominated  as  the  smelting,  amalgamation,  and  humid  ex- 
traction process.  Silver  ores,  which  consist  mainly  of  native 
silver  imbedded  with  other  minerals  in  rocks,  are  subjected 
to  the  smelting  process.  Of  such  ores  are  those  found  in 
Northern  Michigan.  At  the  smelting  works  at  Wyandotte, 
Michigan,  iron  pyrites  is  added  to  the  ore,  whereby  a  regulus 
consisting  of  sulphide  of  iron  and  sulphide  of  copper  is  first 
obtained.  When  this  is  in  a  molten  condition,  lead  is  mixed 
with  this.  After  taking  up  the  greater  part  of  the  silver,  the 
lead  separates  by  its  own  weight.  The  silver  is  then  re- 
moved from  this  alloy  formed  with  the  lead  by  cupellation. 

The  amalgamation  method  invented  by  Bartholome  de 
Medina,  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  is  the  one 
which  is  practiced,  with  but  slight  changes,  at  the  present 
time.  The  ore  is  first  crushed,  and  then  ground  fine  in 
circular  troughs  called  arrastras.  Mercury  is  then  added,  by 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  333, 

which  means  the  silver  is  extracted  from  the  other  sub- 
stances. The  character  of  the  ore  determines  in  each  case 
which  process  is  the  better  adapted  to  the  extraction  of  the 
silver. 

Great  obstacles  stand  in  the  way  of  obtaining  accurate 
statistics  as  to  the  total  production  of  gold  and  silver  in  the 
world.  The  statistics  of  the  countries  producing  the  precious 
metals  record  the  amounts  deposited  for  coinage,  but  these 
fail  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  entire  production.  Ac- 
cording to  one  estimate,  the  annual  production  of  gold  at  the 
opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  about  fifty-three 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty  pounds  troy,  to  which 
amount  contributed  respectively:  New  Granada,  twenty- 
three  per  cent. ;  Brazil  and  Southern  Asia,  eighteen  per  cent, 
each  ;  Chili,  thirteen  per  cent. ;  Mexico,  eight  per  cent.  ; 
Australia,  six  per  cent. ;  and  Peru,  four  per  cent.  An  estimate 
made  in  the  year  1860,  shows  a  vast  increase  in  the  produc- 
tion, as  well  as  a  great  change  in  the  distribution  of  the  pro- 
duct among  the  various  countries.  We  find  in  1860,  the 
yield  increased  to  five  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand 
three  hundred  and  seventy  pounds  troy,  of  which  Australia 
yields  thirty-seven  per  cent. ;  California  and  the  adjoining 
States  and  Territories  thirty-one  and  nine-tenths  per  cent.  ; 
and  Russia,  eleven  and  three-tenths  per  cent.  In  1865,  the 
product  was  five  hundred  and  fifty-nine  thousand  five  hundred 
aud  eighty-seven  pounds.  Of  this  amount,  California  pro- 
duced thirty-seven  and  five-terlths  per  cent. ;  Australia, 
twenty-seven  and  nine-tenths  per  cent. ;  and  Russia,  twelve 
and  four-tenths  per  cent. 

The  value  of  the  gold  production  of  the  chief  gold  coun- 
tries in  1867,  is  stated  as  being:  for  the  United  States,  fifty- 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER. 


six  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  for  Australia, 
thirty-one  million  five  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  ;  for 
Russia,  fifteen  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Prior 
to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  in  1848,  one-half  of  the 
entire  annual  supply  of  gold  came  from  Eastern  Russia. 
But  since  the  year  1850,  Australia  and  the  Pacific  coast  of 
the  United  States  have  been  the  great  gold  producing 
regions.  The  United  States  raises  now  one-half  the  gold 
and  one-half  the  silver  of  the  entire  world's  supply.  The 
gold  yield  of  the  United  States  in  forty  years  is  estimated  in 
value  as  one  billion  nine  hundred  million  dollars. 

Tables  adapted  from  a  series  of  tables  carefully  prepared 
by  Ivan  G.  Michaels,  Washington,  D.  C.,  give  a  comprehen- 
sive idea  of  the  increase  in  the  world's  product  of  gold  and 
silver  and  their  values,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era  to  the  year  1889,  the  latest  date  attainable.  The  figures 
from  A.  D.  i  to  1780,  give  the  yield  for  centuries,  after  1780, 
for  periods  of  twenty  years. 

WORLD'S  PRODUCTION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER  FROM  A.  D.  I  TO  A.  D.  1889. 


GOLD. 

SILVER. 

A.  D. 

LBS.  AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

LBS.  AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

I  to  1492 

13,472,164 

4,445,814,120 

30,056,635 

6l6,l6l,OI7 

1493  to  l6o° 

1,570,200 

518,165,600 

51,168,800 

I  048,960,400 

1601  to  1700 

1,985,060 

656,069,800 

81,814,800 

1,677,203,400 

1701  to  1780 

3,397,460 

I,I2I,l6l,8oO 

86,796,140 

1,779,320,870 

1781  to  1800 

782,760 

258,310,800 

38,678,000 

792,899,000 

1801  to  1820 

564,542 

186,298,860 

22,039,260 

451,804,830 

1821  to  1840 

759,010 

250,473,000 

30,291,690 

620,979,645 

1841  to  1860 

5,633,988 

1,859,216,040 

36,876,870 

755,975335 

1861  to  1880 

7,920,264 

2,613,687,120 

69,012,570 

1,414,757,767 

1881  to  1888 

2,500,639 

825,210,445 

47,105,840 

965,670,098 

Total  .  .  . 

38,586,087 

12,733,400,285 

493,840,609 

10,123,732,862 

MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER. 


335 


The  effect  of  the  California  and  Australia  gold  discoveries 
is  shown  in  the  extraordinary  increase  for  the  period  from 
1840  to  1860,  and  continuing  to  1880.  After  1880  there  is 
a  perceptible  falling  off,  but  still  an  enormous  production. 
The  great  output  of  silver  from  the  Nevada  mines,  between 
1860  and  1880,  appears  in  the  almost  doubling  of  the  figures 
for  that  period.  When  it  is  remembered  that  this  increase 
was,  with  a  few  inconsiderable  exceptions,  almost  wholly  from 
one  silver  district,  the  great  Com  stock  lode,  the  richness  of 
the  yield  will  be  appreciated. 

Another  estimate  of  the  total  world  production  of  the 
precious  metals,  divides  it  into  three  important  periods,  the 
first  extending  from  the  opening  of  the  Christian  era 
to  the  discovery  of  America,  the  second  from  1492  to 
the  gold  discoveries  of  1848,  and  the  last  from  1848  to 
1889.  This  plan  brings  into  prominence  the  addition  of 
gold  and  silver  to  the  world,  by  the  discovered  wealth 
of  the  New  World,  and  later  by  the  discoveries  in  California 
and  Australia. 


WORLD'S  PRODUCTION  OF  GOLD  AND  SILVER.     FIRST  PERIOD— A.  D. 
i  TO  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA  IN  1492. 


GOLD. 

SILVER. 

LBS.    AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

LBS.   AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

13,472,164 

4,445.814,120 

30.056,635 

6l6,l6l,OI7 

In   quantity,  gold  to  silver  as   i   to  2.23.     In  value,  gold 
87.8  per  cent.,  silver  12.2  per  cent. 


336 


MINING — GOLD    AND    SILVER. 
SECOND  PERIOD— 1492  TO  1848. 


GOLD. 

SILVER. 

LBS.    AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

LBS.   AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

11,725,284 

3,869,343,720 

358,718,505 

7,353,729,353 

In  quantity,  gold  to  silver  as   i   to   30.59.     In   value,   gold 
34.5  per  cent.,  silver  65.5  per  cent. 


THIRD  PERIOD— 1848  TO 


GOLD. 

SILVER. 

LBS.   AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

LBS.    AVOIR. 

DOLLARS. 

13,388,639 

4,418,250,870 

105,065,469 

2,153,842,114 

In  quantity,  gold  to  silver  as  i  to  7.92.  In  value,  gold 
67.3  per  cent.,  silver  32.7  per  cent. 

Probably  nine-tenths  of  all  the  gold  obtained  is  from  placer 
deposits.  Nearly  three-fourths  of  the  gold  product  of  the 
United  States  from  1848  to  1888  was  derived  from  the 
placers  of  California.  The  average  yearly  value  of  the  gold 
product  is  estimated  at  about  one  hundred  and  fourteen 
million  dollars.  The  annual  production  of  the  United  States 
has  fallen  somewhat  since  the  fifties  and  sixties,  but  still  ranges 
at  about  thirty  million  dollars.  A  mining  expert  has  been 
quoted  as  saying  that  there  is  enough  gold  in  one  little  dis- 
trict of  Colorado  to  pay  off  the  entire  national  debt  of  the 
United  States.  Such  statements  may  contain  exaggeration, 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  337" 

but  there  seems  no  good  ground  for  concluding  that  the 
United  States  resources  for  both  gold  and  silver  are  by  any 
means  yet  fully  developed.  An  abundant  domestic  supply 
of  both  the  precious  metals  would  appear  to  be  assured  for 
many  years  to  come. 

Ancient  fiscal  privileges  of  royalty  granted  mines  contain- 
ing gold  or  silver  to  the  King.  In  many  of  the  grants  to  the 
colonies,  one-fifth  of  the  product  of  gold  and  silver  mines  was 
reserved  as  a  royalty.  In  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  Vir- 
ginia, the  London  company  reserved  another  fifth  to  itself. 
But  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  the  custom  of  civilized 
countries  to  remove  all  restrictions  to  the  ownership  of  gold 
and  silver  mines,  and  to  place  property  in  them  on  the  same 
legal  footing  as  that  in  any  other  thing,  with,  of  course,  the 
exception,  that  the  laws  governing  ownership  in  mining 
property  must,  from  the  peculiarities  of  such  property,  differ 
somewhat  from  those  applicable  to  other  forms  of  real  estate. 

It  is  estimated  that  about  one-fourth  of  all  the  gold  pro- 
duced is  used  for  coinage,  and  the  remaining  three-fourths  is 
employed  in  the  arts.  The  demand  of  gold  for  purposes  of 
coining  has  been  greatly  increased  of  late  years  by  the  change 
in  the  monetary  system  of  many  countries  from  a  bimetallic 
to  a  monometallic  currency.  This  change  has  teen-  made 
through  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  such  governments — whether 
well  founded  or  not,  time  may  demonstrate — that  the  shifting 
value  of  silver,  and  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  a  constant 
ratio  between  the  two  metals,  rendered  a  double  monetary 
standard  uncertain  and  inexpedient.  Such  a  step  as  the 
demonetization  of  silver  could  not  but  result  in  a  fall  in  the 
value  of  the  white  metal,  till  it  reached  the  plane  of  the  les- 
sened demand. 

22 


338  MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER 

Modern  inventions  in  mining"  machinery  make  it  possible  to 
work  at  a  profit  now,  mines  which  would  not  with  former 
methods  have  repaid  the  expenses  of  working.  The  location 
of  the  mine,  the  situation  of  the  metal-bearing  vein,  largely 
conditions  of  course,  the  expense  of  extracting  the  metal  from 
the  ore,  making  it  difficult  to  calculate  with  accuracy  what  is 
an  average  expense  of  mining  either  gold  or  silver.  The 
higher  wages  paid  in  the  United  States  might  at  first  seem  to 
imply  a  greater  cost  of  working  mines  in  that  country,  than 
in  the  countries  of  the  Old  World.  But  in  mining,  as  in  other 
industries,  cheap  labor  is  found  to  be  unprofitable  labor,  and 
the  United  States  can  to-day  place  her  gold  and  silver  in  the 
markets  of  the  world  as  cheaply  as  any  country  known.  It 
is  related  that  at  the  Spanish  mine,  Washington  Township, 
Nevada  County,  Colorado,  in  1887,  three  thousand  tons  of 
gold  ore  were  mined  at  thirty-seven  and  a  half  cents  per  ton, 
and  milled  at  twenty-three  cents  per  ton.  Thus  was  demon- 
strated a  possibility  of  working  ore  worth  only  one  dollar  per 
ton  at  a  profit  of  thirty-nine  and  a  half  cents. 

The  discovery  of  gold  or  silver  in  any  country  enables  that 
country,  by  being  in  possession  of  cheaper  coin  to  obtain  on 
easier  terms  commodities  from  other  nations.  The  gain  is, 
in  the  first  instance,  wholly  on  the  part  of  the  country  in  which 
the  precious  metal  is  found.  When,  on  the  contrary,  a  coun- 
try does  not  itself  produce  gold  or  silver,  every  increase  in 
its  circulation  must  be  purchased  with  goods  of  real  value  in 
that  country,  By  the  rise  of  prices  in  the  country  in  which 
the  metal  is  discovered,  international  values  are  affected. 
Conditions  of  national  wealth  are  changed.  But  in  time  the 
precious  metal  flows  out  into  the  circulation  of  other  coun- 
tries, a'  beneficent  stream  carrying  widespread  prosperity  in 


MINING GOLD    AND    SILVER.  339 

its  wake,  until  in  the  process  of  years,  by  the  agency  of  com- 
mercial operations,  the  nations  of  the  world  come  to  share  in 
the  new-found  wealth  of  the  gold-producing  country.  For  in 
these  latter  years  of  international  trade  and  intercourse,  no 
nation's  gain  or  loss  is  wholly  its  own.  In  it  "  all  the  rest 
have  equal  claim." 


THE  STEAMBOAT. 

HE  original  idea  of  a  boat  for  crossing  streams  and 
other  small  bodies  of  water  is  directly  traceable  to  the 
floating  log ;  as  the  very  simplest  form  is  that  log 
pointed  at  either  end.  Several  logs  were  next  lashed 
together  by  pliant  twigs  and  branches,  forming  the  raft  which 
was  propelled  by  long  poles.  The  earliest  Egyptian  draw- 
ings show  boats  made  from  sawn  planks  and  having  numer- 
ous sails  and  oars. 

The  process  of  boat  building  has  been  a  progress  by 
stages ;  and  the  civilization  of  a  tribe  or  nation  is  accurately 
determined  by  the  form  of  boat  they  use.  There  are  six 
clearly  defined  stages  of  the  work,  and  every  one  of  these 
six  grades  still  survive  in  some  section  of  the  world.  Even 
the  most  primitive  of  all,  the  unhollowed  log,  is  used  on  the 
northern  coast  of  Australia,  i.  Is  found  the  floating  log, 
rafts,  or  even  bundles  of  brush-wood  or  reeds  tied  together. 
2.  Dugouts,  or  logs  hollowed  out,  sometimes  by  means  of 
fire,  sometimes  with  the  crude  tools  of  savagery.  3.  Inflated 
skins,  or  canoes  of  bark  or  skins  that  were  stretched  on  a 
rude  frame.  The  inflated  skins  were  known  as  "  balsas." 
4.  Canoes  of  bark  or  skins  fastened  together  with  sinews,  or 

o 

thongs,  or  fibers  of  vegetable   growth.     5.  Vessels  of  sawn 
planks  or  boards  fastened  to  inserted  ribs.     These  often  hah 
340 


THE    STEAMBOAT.  34! 

decks  and  half  decks  in  them.  6.  Vessels  of  which  the 
framework  is  first  fashioned  and  the  covering  nailed  on  after- 
ward. This  is  the  highest  form  yet  reached. 

For  a  long  time  boats  were  of  a  light  draught,  as  they  were 
always  beached  during  the  winter  time.  The  Romans  built 
their  boats  of  light  woods,  as  pine  and  cedar,  but  their  war 
boats  were  more  ponderous,  being  built  of  oak  and  heavily 
clamped  together  at  their  bows  with  iron  or  brass,  that  they 
might  be  used,  on  occasion,  as  battering  rams.  The  Viking 
war  ship  was  clinker  built,  seventy-eight  feet  long,  seven  feet 
amidships,  five  and  three-fourths  feet  deep,  and  drew  less  than 
four  feet  of  water.  It  had  thirty-two  oars  and  one  mast,  forty 
feet  high,  which  probably  carried  a  single,  square  sail.  The 
galleys  of  Alfred,  which  kept  these  boats  in  check,  were  pro- 
pelled by  from  forty  to  sixty  oars,  but  they  were  only  fit  for 
shore  service  and  could  not  put  to  sea.  The  ships  of  Canute 
carried  only  eighty  men.  The  "  large  ships "  of  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion,  in  1190,  which  transported  his  forces  to  the 
Crusades,  were  only  of  small  size  and  moved  by  sails. 
Henry  V,  during  the  early  fifteenth  century  ordered  the 
building  of  several  large  ships  which  were  the  wonder  and 
admiration  of  that  time.  One  was  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
feet  long,  one  hundred  and  twelve  feet  keel,  and  forty-six 
feet  beam.  Both  Henry  VII  and  Henry  VIII  did  much  to 
encourage  ship  building,  both  for  commerce  and  war. 

In  1511,  in  Scotland,  was  built  the  "  Great  Michael,"  "ane 
varie  monstrous  schip."  This  boat  was  two  hundred  and 
forty  feet  long,  which  far  exceeded  any  boat  previously  con- 
structed. This,  in  the  main,  is  the  history  of  the  early  at- 
tempts at  boat  building. 

For  some  time  before    1 788,   paddle  wheels  were  experi- 


342  THE    STEAMBOAT. 

mented  with  for  propelling  larger  boats.  These  were  all 
driven  by  hand  power. 

The  use  of  steam  dates  from  antiquity.  It  is  among  the 
relics  of  ancient  Egyptian  civilization  that  we  find  the  first 
records  in  the  early  history  of  the  steam  engine.  Hero,  in 
Alexandria,  about  250  B.  C.,  wrote  his  manuscript,  entitled 
"  Spectalia  seu  Pneumatica,"  in  which  he  describes  several 
forms  of  boilers  used  in  the  generation  of  steam  which  was 
applied  to  the  motion  of  what  seems  to  have  been  a  variety 
of  philosophical  toys.  He  described  the  hand  fire  engine 
which  is  still  employed  in  the  small  towns  of  this  country. 

The  first  steam  boilers  were  nearly  spheroidal,  ellipsoidal, 
or  cylindrical.  Those  of  Salomon  De  Caus,  engineer  and 
architect  to  Louis  XIII,  in  1615,  were  spherical;  those  of 
Edward  Somerset,  the  second  Marquis  of  Worcester,  in  1663, 
were  also  spherical,  while  those  of  Thomas  Savery,  in  1698, 
were  ellipsoidal  and  cylindrical.  After  this  steam  boilers  re- 
ceived a  variety  of  shapes,  until,  upon  the  general  adoption 
of  high  pressure,  it  became  necessary  to  give  them  the  strong- 
est possible  form.  The  material  first  used  in  their  construc- 
tion was  copper,  but  it  is  now  usually  wrought  iron  or  steel. 

The  present  forms  of  boilers  are  to  be  classed  as  plain  flue 
and  tubular.  The  plain  cylindrical  boiler  is  the  only  represent- 
ative of  its  class  in  common  use.  It  is  perfectly  cylindrical, 
with  heads  that  are  either  flat  or  hemispherical.  Flue  boilers 
are  often  cylindrical  and  contain  one  or  more  cylindrical  flues, 
passing  from  one  end  of  them  to  the  other,  under  the  water 
line,  carrying  the  furnace  gases  and  thus  affording  a  much 
larger  heating  surface  than  could  be  secured  without  them. 
A  cylindrical  boiler  having  one  lengthwise  flue  is  known  as 
the  Cornish  boiler,  because  it  was  first  used  at  Cornwall, 


THE    STEAMBOAT.  343 

The  two-flued  boilers  are  called  the  Lancashire.  These  flues 
have  one-third  the  diameter  of  the  boiler  shell.  Several  tubes 
of  less  diameter  are  frequently  used,  and  when  the  greatest 
amount  possible  of  heating  surface  is  required,  tubes  of  from 
one  and  one-half  inches  to  four  or  five  inches  are  used.  Flues 
are  usually  made  by  riveting  the  sheet-iron  together,  the  same 
as  for  the  outside  shell.  But  sometimes  these  sheets  are  welded 
together.  The  tubes  are  frequently  made  of  brass  or  copper, 
to  secure  the  most  rapid  transfusion  of  heat  through  the 
water.  Another  advantage  in  their  employment  is  that  a 
much  smaller  boiler  may  thus  be  used,  as  a  smaller  area  of 
heating  surface  will  be  required.  A  sectional  boiler  is  one 
differing  from  the  usual  forms  in  its  peculiar  arrangement  of 
water  and  steam  spaces.  In  it  are  a  large  number  of  small, 
compact  apartments  occupying  the  space  of  its  interior.  It  is 
considered  that  this  is  the  safest  kind  of  boiler,  for  the  tubes 
are  of  material  which  will  withstand  a  much  greater  strain 
than  is  ever  required  of  them. 

The  earliest  specimen  of  these  boilers  is  supposed  to  be 
the  one  used  by  Col.  John  Stevens,  in  1804,  at  Hoboken,  N.  J. 
He  built  the  direct-acting,  high-pressure  and  condensing  en- 
gine, with  sectional  boiler,  and  experimented  with  it  on  the 
Hudson  River.  In  the  following  year,  1805,  his  son,  John  Cox 
Stevens,  patented  this  boiler  in  England.  The  machinery  of 
Stevens's  first  boat  is  still  to  be  seen,  in  a  state  of  good  pres- 
ervation, in  the  Museum  of  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, at  Hoboken. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  locate  accurately  the  first  use  of 
steam  as  a  motive  power  for  boats.  Blasco  de  Garay  is 
credited  by  Spanish  writers  with  applying  steam  to  the  pro- 
pulsion of  a  boat  at  Barcelona  in  1543.  If  this  feat  was  really 


344  THE    STEAMBOAT. 

accomplished,  it  is  the  first  on  record.  Giovanni  Branca,  at 
Rome,  in  1629,  published  an  account  of  the  mechanical  appli- 
cation of  the  steam  jet  to  the  impulsion  of  a  wheel,  by  forcing 
the  steam  against  the  vanes  of  the  wheel,  and  proposed  its 
application  to  many  practical  purposes.  The  Marquis  of 
Worcester,  in  his  Century  of  Inventions,  published  in  1663, 
tells  of  an  appliance  which  consisted  of  steam  boilers  operat- 
ing alternately,  and  of  pipes  conveying  steam  from  them  to  a 
vessel  in  which  its  pressure  acted  in  such  a  way  as  to  force 
water  upward,  as  had  been  previously  suggested  by  De  Caus. 
This  was  set  up  in  Vauvhall,  near  London,  and  was  the  first 
instance  of  the  practical  application  of  steam  in  England. 
Thomas  Newcomen,  John  Canley,  and  Thomas  Savery  pat- 
ented the  first  steam  engine  which  was  worthy  of  the  name ; 
the  others  could  only  be  said  to  be  experiments.  Humphrey 
Potter,  an  ingenious  boy  mechanic,  in  1713,  caused  the  valve 
gear  to  work  automatically  by  means  of  leading  cords  from 
the  beam.  Henry  Beighton,  in  1718,  substituted  a  plug  rod, 
as  well  as  the  more  substantial  appliance  still  known  to  en- 
gineers, for  the  leading  cords.  The  improved  Newcomen 
engine  came  into  use  throughout  England  during  the  eight- 

o  o  o  o  o 

•eenth  century. 

James  Watt,  an  instrument  maker  at  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  Scotland,  while  repairing  a  model  Newcomen  en- 
gine in  1 763,  began  a  series  of  experiments,  which  finally 
made  the  steam  engine  of  universal  service.  In  1765,  he 
.attached  a  separate  condenser,  which  saved  fully  three-fourths 
each  of  water  and  heat.  He  also  substituted  oil  and  tallow 
to  keep  the  piston  from  leaking,  instead  of  flooding  it  from 
above  with  water,  as  had  been  the  custom  previously.  He 
closed  the  top  with  a  cylinder  head,  and  protected  the  cylin- 


THE    STEAMBOAT.  345 

der  with  a  non-conducting  covering,  to  prevent  the  loss  of 
heat  by  radiation.  He  also  applied  the  "  steam  jacket."  The 
firm  of  Boulton  &  Watt  commenced  making  these  engines, 
at  Soho,  near  Birmingham,  Eng.,  in  1773.  Watt  suggested 
the  economy  of  steam  by  its  expansion,  in  1 769,  and  in  1 776  a 
form  of  cut-off  was  adopted  by  him  which  he  patented  in  1 782. 
The  crank  and  fly-wheel  were  patented  by  Wasborough,  in 
1 781.  By  these  various  devices  it  is  estimated  that  the  power 
of  the  steam  engine  was  at  least  doubled. 

o 

Engines  are  called  condensing  or  non-condensing,  as  they 
have,  or  do  not  have,  a  condenser.  They  are  high  or  low 
pressure.  High-pressure  engines  are  those  supplied  with 
steam  of  fifty  pounds  and  upwards  to  the  square  inch  ;  low- 
pressure,  those  having  forty  pounds  and  downwards  to  the 
square  inch. 

Engines  are  classed,  according  to  the  use  for  which  they 
are  intended,  into  stationary,  pumping,  portable,  locomotive, 
or  marine.  The  simplest  form  is  the  locomotive,  as  in  it 
neither  the  governor  nor  condenser  is  used.  The  oldest  form 
of  pumping  engine  now  in  use  is  the  Cornish. 

Oliver  Evans,  in  1779,  projected  the  high-pressure,  non- 
conducting steam  engine.  He  used  them  to  run  grain  and 
saw  mills,  locomotives  and  vessels.  This  is  still  the  most 
common  of  all  forms  in  use. 

Joseph  Dixon,  in  1823,  coupled  two  engines  with  cranks  at 
right  angles.  The  detachable,  adjustable,  or  drop  cut-off 
^alve  gear  was  patented  by  Frederick  E,  Sickles,  of  New 
York,  in  1842.  Zachariah  Allen  and  George  H.  Corliss,  of 
Rhode  Island,  first  applied  the  governor  to  determine  the 
point  of  cut-off.  This  was  patented  by  Corliss  in  1849. 

The  revival  of  the  double  cylinder  engine  with  rapid  motion 


346  THE    STEAMBOAT. 

of  piston,  high  pressure  and  considerable  expansion,  which 
have  proved  so  economical  and  successful,  have  been  the  only 
recent  features  in  this  branch  of  engineering  progress.  The 
Corliss  engine  is  the  best  known  stationary  engine.  It  is 
generally  used  in  America  and  extensively  copied  in  England. 

Marine  steam  engines  are  of  various  forms,  but  a  few 
shapes  only  are  in  general  use.  They  almost  invariably  have 
condensers.  While  these  were  formerly  run  at  low  pressure^ 
now  sixty  pounds  are  used. 

In  the  early  days  of  steam  navigation,  paddle  wheels  were 
exclusively  used  for  propelling  boats,  but  latterly  the  screw 
has  almost  entirely  superseded  them.  The  first  use  of  the 
screw,  of  which  there  seems  to  be  any  record,  was  the  one,  by 
means  of  which  the  tug  of  Captain  Ericsson,  a  scientific  vete- 
ran, in  1837,  towed  the  Admiralty  barge  from  Somerset  House 
to  Blackwell  and  back.  The  paddle  engines  of  the  United 
States  are  most  commonly  the  overhead  beam  engines,  driven 
by  steam  of  from  twenty  to  fifty  pounds  pressure  and  fitted 
with  jet  condenser ;  and  the  high  pressure,  non-conducting, 
direct-acting  engines,  used  mainly  on  our  Western  rivers. 
These  are  driven  by  steam,  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  pressure,  and  they  exhaust  the  steam  into  the 
atmosphere.  This  is  the  simplest  form  of  direct-acting  engine. 
The  beam  engine  is  distinctively  an  American  type,  being 
seldom,  if  ever,  seen  abroad.  They  are  usually  employed  for 
vessels  of  great  length,  light  draught  and  high  speed.  Screw 
steamers  are  far  more  efficacious  than  paddle-wheel  steamers, 
not  alone  on  account  of. the  screw  being  a  better  instrument 
of  propulsion,  but  because  it  allows  the  use  of  more  efficient 
machinery  and  conserves  a  great  amount  of  energy  which  is 
entirely  wasted  with  the  paddle  wheel  in  putting  the  water  in 


THE    STEAMBOAT.  347 

motion,  which  coming  in  contact  with  the  hull  of  the  vessel  is 
set  in  motion  by  friction  and  the  resulting  current  is  left  be- 
hind to  expend  its  energy  by  contact  with  the  surrounding 
water.  In  the  case  of  the  screw,  the  currents  so  produced 
impinge  upon  the  screw,  which  works  at  the  stern  of  the  ves- 
sel, and  impart  to  it  a  part  of  that  force  which  otherwise  would 
be  lost  in  making  currents.  The  screws  work  deeply  in  the 
water  and,  for  this  reason,  are  not  so  liable  to  slip  as  are  the 
paddle  wheels.  Hence,  screws  have  become  the  sole  instru- 
ment of  propulsion  where  the  depth  of  water  will  permit  their 
use.  The  screw  engines  are  light,  compact,  and  speedy  in 
their  work.  They  use  steam  economically  and  power  is  ap- 
plied more  effectively  than  with  the  wheel.  On  account  of 
their  compactness,  smaller  size,  and  lightness,  more  paying 
freight  can  be  transported,  which  adds  greatly  to  the  commer- 
cial value  of  the  steam  vessel. 

Screw  propellers  are  of  various  forms,  but  not  many  differ- 
ent shapes  are  in  common  use,  as  a  few  kinds  are  found  to  be 
most  practical.  The  usual  form  has  two  blades  of  nearly 
equal  breadth  from  centre  to  periphery,  or  slightly  widening 
toward  their  extremities.  These  are  more  commonly  used 
in  vessels  of  high  speed  running  free,  as  tugs.  In  naval  ves- 
sels screws  of  two  blades  are  usually  employed.  In  the  early 
vessels  these  screws  were  so  adjusted  that  they  could  be 
hoisted  out  of  the  water,  into  a  sort  of."  well,"  when  the  ves- 
sel was  under  sail,  or  set  behind  the  sternpost,  where  their 
resistance  to  the  progress  of  the  boat  was  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. In  the  largest  boats  the  screws  have  three  or  four 
blades.  The  first  use  of  paddle  wheels  to  propel  vessels 
antedates  the  Christian  era. 

To  Denis  Papin,  the  French  physicist,  is  due  the  idea  of  the 


34S  THE    STEAMBOAT. 

piston.  It  was  first  employed  by  him  in  a  model  constructed 
in  1690.  He  is  said  to  have  experimented  with  his  engine  in 
a  model  boat,  in  1 707,  on  the  Fulda,  at  Cassel.  This  ingen- 
ious man,  before  his  invention  for  using  steam,  spent  much 
time  on  a  scheme  for  moving  machinery  by  creating  an  at- 
mospheric vacuum  by  the  explosion  of  gunpowder  in  a  cylin- 
der. Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  at  this  time  President  of  the 
Royal  Society,  before  which  Papin  detailed  his  plan.  The 
matter  being  left  in  the  President's  hands,  he  decided  that 
while  the  scheme  was  no  doubt  practicable,  the  finances  of  the 
society  were  in  such  a  crippled  condition  that  they  would  not 
warrant  a  trial  under  its  auspices,  at  this  time. 

In  1736  Jonathan  Hulls  secured  a  patent  in  England  for 
moving  vessels  by  steam  power. 

Numerous  inventions  now  followed,  some  practical  and  in- 
genious, others  only  distinguished  for  their  whimsicalities  ;  as 
one  on  record  of  a  M.  Genevois,  a  clergyman  of  Berne, 
Switzerland,  in  1759,  a  sort  of  steam  propeller  which  would 
expand  like  the  foot  of  a  duck  and  present  a  large  surface  to 
the  water  when  pushed  against  it,  but  would  fold  up  into 
quite  a  small  compass  when  moved  in  an  opposite  direction. 
This  was  not  found  to  be  practical,  and  though  several  have 
experimented  with  the  same  idea  since  that  time,  it  has  never 
been  adopted. 

From  1731  to  1815,  Patrick  Miller,  a  retired  Edinburgh 
banker,  grappled  with  the  problem  of  steam  navigation  on  a 
small  lake  on  his  estate,  in  Dalswinton,  Dumfreeshire,  Scot- 
land. James  Taylor,  the  tutor  of  his  sons,  at  length  suggested 
to  him  that  steam  was  probably  the  only  agent  that  would 
successfully  turn  his  paddle  wheels.  Feeling  the  necessity  of 
experienced  mechanical  assistance,  they  associated  with  them 


THE    STEAMBOAT. 

William  Symington,  a  mechanic  of  Wanlockhead  mines,  who 
had  already  invented  an  ingenious  engine  for  road  locomo- 
tives. In  1 789  another  larger  vessel  was  built  and  tried  on 
the  Forth  and  Clyde  Canal,  at  a  speed  of  seven  miles  an 
hour. 

While  the  honor  of  practically  establishing  steam  naviga- 
tion cannot  be  truly  claimed  for  any  one  person,  it  may  be 
safely  said  that  Patrick  Miller,  James  Taylor,  and  William 
Symington  were  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the 
great  achievement.  It  was  chiefly  to  the  inspection  and  study 
of  Symington's  experiments  that  Fulton  was  indebted  for  his 
ideas  on  this  subject.  At  first,  Fulton's  boat  moved  so  slowly 
that  it  was  pronounced  a  failure.  But  his  experiments  with 
the  "  Clermont,"  in  1 807,  were  successful.  Her  passage  up  the 
Hudson  is  said  to  have  struck  terror  to  the  hearts  of  the 
sailors  of  other  crafts.  "  The  crews  shrank  beneath  their 
decks  from  the  terrific  sight,  and  others  prostrated  themselves 
and  besought  Providence  to  protect  them  from  the  approach 
of  the  horrible  monster  which  was  marching  on  the  tides  and 
lighting  its  path  by  the  fires  which  it  vomited." 

The  patent  of  Jonathan  Hulls,  before  alluded  to,  by  which 
England  claims  precedence  to  America  in  the  matter  of  steam 
navigation,  bears  date  of  December  2ist,  1736,  is  signed  by 
Queen  Caroline  as  witness,  and  was  for  a  "  machine  for  car- 
rying ships  and  vessels  out  of  or  into  any  harbor  or  river 
against  wind  or  tide." 

o 

William  Henry,  of  Chester  County,  Pa.,  experimented  with 
a  model  steamboat  on  the  Conestoga  in  1736.  A  similar 
attempt  was  made  by  the  French  nobleman,  Count  d'Auxi- 
rons,  who  was  assisted  by  M.  Perier,  in  1774.  M.  Perier 
repeated  the  experiment  in  1775.  Marquis  de  Jouffrey  was 


35O  THE    STEAMBOAT. 

employed  in  the  same  work  from  1776  to  1783,  using  a  larger 
vessel,  and  he  found  his  efforts  successful.  James  Rumsey, 
in  the  United  States,  in  .1784-86  wrestled  with  the  same 
problem.  In  1786  he  propelled  a  boat  on  the  Potomac,  near 
Sheppardstown,  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour,  by  using  a 
jet  of  water  forced  out  at  the  stern.  John  Fitch,  who  had  an 
experimental  boat  on  the  Delaware,  in  1786,  tried  the  same 
means  of  propulsion.  He  propelled  by  paddles  suspended 
by  the  upper  ends  of  their  shafts  and  moved  by  a  series  of 
cranks.  This  boat  was  sixty  feet  long.  Another  vessel  made 
many  trips  on  the  Delaware,  which  reached  an  average  speed 
of  seven  and  one-half  miles  an  hour.  In  1 796,  after  his  re- 
turn from  England,  where  he  had  been  experimenting  on  the 
Thames,  John  Fitch  again  resumed  his  experiments  at  New 
York,  using  a  screw. 

Besides  these,  there  were  several  other  attempts  at  steam 
navigation,  more  or  less  successful,  before  the  advent  of 
Robert  Fulton,  an  American  artist,  and  afterward  civil  engi- 
neer, who  built  a  steamboat  on  the  Seine,  in  1803.  He  was 
assisted  by  Chancellor  R.  Livingstone,  whom  he  had  pre- 
viously known  in  America.  Fulton  returned  to  the  United 
States  in  1806,  and  with  Livingstone  had  a  boat  built  in  which 
was  placed  the  machinery  made  by  Boulton  &  Watt.  This 
boat  was  named  the  "Clermont"  and  made  a  successful  trip  of 
five  miles  an  hour  from  New  York  to  Albany,  on  August  7th, 
1807.  The  upward  trip  was  not  continuous,  but  the  return 
trip  occupied  thirty  hours.  This  boat,  which  was  lengthened 
ten  feet  in  1808,  and  some  change  made  in  its  machinery, 
was  the  first  ever  made  commercially  successful.  Almost 
simultaneously,  Stevens  brought  out  the  "  Phoenix,"  a  side- 
wheeler.  This  steamer  could  not  ply  on  the  Hudson,  as 


THE    STEAMBOAT.  351 

Fulton  and  Livingstone  had  the  monopoly  of  navigation  on 
that  river,  so  it  was  taken  by  ocean  around  to  the  Delaware. 
This  was  the  first  ocean  voyage  made  by  steam.  From  this 
on  steamers  multiplied,  and  their  power,  speed,  and  capacity 
increased.  Ocean  navigation  by  steam,  begun  in  1808,  by 
Stevens,  became  an  assured  success  by  the  trip  of  the  "  Savan- 
nah" in  1819,  which  went  from  Savannah,  Ga.,  to  Russia,  by 
way  of  England.  In  this  trip  both  steam  and  sails  were 
used.  She  returned  direct  from  St.  Petersburg  to  New  York 
in  twenty-six  days.  In  1825,  the  steamer  "  Enterprise"  went  to 
Calcutta  from  England.  In  1836,  there  was  a  proposition  to 
establish  a  steamer  line  between  Liverpool  and  New  York. 
The  first  transatlantic  line  to  be  established  was  the  Cunard, 
which  sent  its  first  vessel,  the  "  Britannica,"  from  Liverpool 
July  4th,  1840. 

The  first  naval  screw  boat  used  in  the  English  Navy  was  the 
"Archimedes,"  which  was  built  in  1840.  It  was  considered 
so  successful  that  paddles  have  almost  been  eliminated  in 
British  waters.  The  first  transatlantic  screw  steamer  was  the 
"  Massachusetts."  By  it  steam  vessels  were  introduced  into 
Chinese  waters.  The  hulls  and  machinery  of  these  vessels 
were  sent  out  from  the  United  States  in  sailing  vessels. 

The  steamers  now  commonly  in  use  are  usually  four  or 
five  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  have  a  speed  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  an  hour,  using  engines  of  three  and  four  thou- 
sand horse-power  and  consuming  about  one  hundred  tons  of 
coal  per  day,  crossing  in  about  eight  or  ten  days.  Advances 
in  nautical  science  have  enabled  several  boats  to  lately  make 
the  trip  in  about  five  days. 

The  "  Great  Eastern,"  the  largest  boat  that  had  ever  been 
constructed,  was  begun  in  1854  and  completed  in  1859,  by 


352  THE    STEAMBOAT. 

J.  Scott  Russell.  She  was  built  on  the  Thames,  England,  and 
was  six  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  eighty-three  feet  wide, 
fifty-eight  feet  deep,  with  twenty-eight  feet  draught.  She  was 
propelled  by  four  paddle  wheels  and  four  screws,  and  was  of 
twenty-four  thousand  tons  measurement.  The  paddle  wheels 
had  a  diameter  of  fifty-six  feet,  and  the  screws,  twenty-four 
feet.  The  steam  boilers  supplying  the  paddles  had  more 
than  an  acre  of  heating  surface,  while  those  supplying  the 
screws  had  much  more.  She  was  expected  to  have  a  speed 
of  sixteen  and  one-half  miles  an  hour.  Her  most  important 
work  was  the  laying  of  the  ocean  cables.  On  account  of  the 
great  expense  in  running  her,  she  was  abandoned  as  a  regu- 
lar traveler,  and  only  called  on  in  an  emergency.  She  has 
now  been  condemned  to  destruction,  and  if  she  has  not 
already  been  pulled  to  pieces  she  will  soon  be. 

Steam  engines  in  their  early  years  were  known  as  "  fire  or 
heat  engines,"  which  is  really  the  more  proper  term  for  them, 
because  heat  is  the  energy  which  performs  the  labor  through 
the  medium  of  water. 

Such  is  partially  the  story  of  the  origin  and  progress  of 
steam  navigation  which  has  become  one  of  the  mighty  won- 
ders and  triumphs  of  human  patience  and  ingenuity.  By  it 
the  steamboat  of  to-day  can  "  walk  the  waters  like  a  thing  of 
life,"  and  by  its  almost  universal  adoption  great  strides  have 
been  taken  toward  breaking  down  the  barriers  of  ignorance 
and  barbarity. 


PHOTOGRAPHY. 

f~"\HOTOGRAPHY,  that  "child  of  optics  and  chemistry," 
LX     is  both  a  science  and  an  art.     It  is  one  of  the  great- 
•I  est  scientific    facts  of   the  present  day  and  is   not. 

<^^  ^  restricted  to  the  mere  making  of  pictures,  as  com- 
monly understood,  but  it  includes  everything 
coming  under  its  literal  meaning:  "Writing  by  means  of 
light."  It  embraces  all  processes  by  which  any  kind  of  pic- 
ture can  be  secured  by  the  chemical  action  of  light,  without 
reference  to  the  sensitive  surface  upon  which  it  acts.  It 
delineates  objects  by  the  agency  of  the  light  which  they 
reflect  or  radiate. 

Observations  of  chemical  changes  by  the  action  of  light 
were  probably  made  in  pre-historic  times,  as  there  has  always 
been  the  fading  of  the  flowers,  the  tanning  of  the  skin,  and 
similar  natural  chemical  effects.  The  Greeks  knew  that  the 
opal  and  the  amethyst  parted  with  their  brilliance  in  the  sun- 
light. Pliny  noticed  that  wax  bleached  when  exposed  to  the 
sun's  rays.  Other  organic  substances  were  observed  to 
change  color  under  the  influence  of  sunlight ;  some  bleaching 
and  others  darkening,  according  to  the  nature  of  their  ingre- 
dients. It  is  said  that  the  alchemists  noticed,  as  early  as  the 
twelfth  century,  that  the  chloride  of  silver  blackened  by  ex- 
posure to  the  beams  of  the  sun.  This  occurred  in  proportion 
23  353 


354 


PHOTOGRAPHY. 


to  the  intensity  of  the  light,  but  the  change  was  gradual. 
Fabricius,  in  1556,  observed  the  curious  action  of  sunlight 
upon  the  silver  compounds,  and  publicly  proclaimed  it.  He 
abandoned  his  work  on  this  line  because  it  seemed  to  lead 
him  away  from  gold,  for  which  he  was  searching,  so  he  did 
not  further  pursue  his  discoveries. 

The  first  germ  of  photography,  as  an  art>  was  the  experi- 
ment of  Priestley's.  He  deposited  some  chlorides  of  silver 
on  the  side  of  a  bottle  made  of  glass,  and  put  around  the 
bottle  a  piece  of  dark  paper,  out  of  which  some  letters  had 
been  cut,  and  exposed  the  arrangement  to  the  sunlight.  The 
result  was  that  the  silver  surface  protected  by  the  dark  paper 
was  white,  but  the  holes  had  permitted  the  unprotected  part 
to  blacken. 

In  1727,  T.  A.  Schultze,  a  German  experimenter,  coated 
paper  with  a  mixture  of  silver  nitrate  and  chalk.  This  he 
exposed  to  light  under  a  sheet  of  translucent  paper,  by  which 
means  was  obtained  a  negative,  or  reversed  copy. 

Charles  W.  Scheele,  a  German  chemist,  in  1777,  experi- 
mented to  determine  whether  it  was  some  special  colored 
ray  or  the  whole  beam  which  wrought  the  change.  By  means 
of  a  prism  he  dispersed  the  beam  into  its  rays,  and  exposing 
a  sheet  of  paper  coated  with  silver  the  darkening  commenced 
in  the  indigo  or  violet  ray  and  extended  far  beyond  sight. 
Going  in  the  other  direction  it  ceased  in  the  blue  ray,  and  the 
green,  yellow,  orange,  and  red  ones  produced  no  effect  upon 
the  silver.  Thus  was  discovered  that  the  sunlight  did  not 

o 

darken  the  silver  by  virtue  of  its  light  alone,  but  by  some 
other  principle  which  the  beam  contained.  Scheele  stated  as 
the  result  of  his  experiment  that  silver  salt  would  blacken  as 
much  under  violet  li^ht  in  fifteen  seconds  as  under  the  red 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  355 

in  twenty  minutes.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  worked  with 
an  imperfect  or  defective  prism,  as  the  subsequent  investiga- 
tions of  other  scientists  have  proven  that  the  red  rays  exert  no 
influence  whatever  upon  the  silver  salt.  He  found,  further- 
more, that  the  decomposition  of  the  salt  into  its  elementary 
substances — chlorine  gas  and  silver — was  what  caused  the 
blackening.  By  this  decomposition  the  gas  escapes,  but  the 
silver  remains  in  a  finely  distributed  metallic  form.  What 
he  discovered  has  beerr  retained  as  the  basis  upon  which  has 
been  built  a  theory  of  photographic  printing.  The  English 
historians  call  Scheele  a  Swede,  the  mistake  arising  from  the 
fact  that  at  this  time  his  home,  Stralsund,  was  in  possession 
of  the  Swedes. 

The  first  instrument  to  be  used  in  photography  is  the 
camera  obscura,  which  Baptista  Porta,  the  Italian  philosopher, 
in  1569,  has  the  honor  of  inventing.  His  camera  consisted 
simply,  as  its  name  implies,  of  a  darkened  room,  to  which 
not  a  ray  of  light  was  admitted  excepting  through  a  small 
hole  in  the  window  shutter.  In  a  room  of  this  kind,  when 
there  is  bright  sunlight  out  doors,  an  inverted,  but  not  very 
vivid  image  of  external  objects  within  range  of  the  aperture 
is  cast  upon  a  screen  placed  in  front  of  the  window.  By 
fixing  a  double  convex  lens  in  the  hole,  Porta  improved  this 
primitive  contrivance  and  also  by  adding  a  mirror  so  placed 
on  the  outside  as  to  catch  the  rays  of  light  and  reflect  them 
through  the  lens.  This  caused  the  image  to  appear  much 
brighter,  more  distinct,  and  in  its  natural  position  instead  of 
inverted.  This  invention  was  considered  a  great  curiosity, 
and  multitudes  flocked  to  Porta  to  see  these  marvelous  pic- 
tures painted  by  the  sun,  glowing  with  color,  and  so  wonder- 
fully accurate.  Improvements  in  the  camera  were  soon  made, 


356  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

and  it  became,  as  we  would  say  in  these  days,  such  a  fad  that 
it  was  a  favorite  adjunct  to  the  country  houses  of  the  rich. 
These  were  usually  in  the  form  of  a  small  circular  house, 
when  possible  erected  specially  for  it  on  a  hill-top. 

It  is  not  known  when  the  first  lens  was  made,  nor  for  what 
purpose,  but  amongst  the  ruins  of  Nineveh  there  has  been 
found  a  double  convex  lens,  showing  that  it  must  have  been 
in  existence  at  least  a  thousand  years  before  the  Christian 
era.  This  is  the  first  optical  instrument  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge. 

With  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  the  progress 
made  in  chemistry,  the  times  seemed  more  propitious  for  the 
development  of  the  arts  and  sciences.  There  is  a  question 
about  this  art  which  has  never  been  satisfactorily  answered, 
and  that  is:  Who  was  its  discoverer?  It  is  known  that  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  Boulton,  of  the  firm  of  Boulton  &  Watt,  a  de- 
scendant of  Matthew  Boulton,  at  Soho,  near  Birmingham, 
Eng.,  who  died  in  1809,  were  found  a  camera  and  metal 
plates,  about  the  size  of  note  paper,  exactly  like  those  subse- 
quently used  by  Daguerre  in  the  early  days  of  photograph}-. 
There  were  two  of  these  plates,  and  on  each  was  the  faint 
image  of  the  house  at  Soho,  evidently  produced  by  means  of 
light.  All  experts  examining  them  immediately  pronounced 
them  to  be  photographs  taken  by  the  aid  of  a  camera  from 
nature.  In  addition  to  this  expert  testimony  there  was  at- 
tached to  them  a  memorandum  stating  they  were  indeed  sun 
pictures  which  represented  the  house  as  it  was  before  certain 
alterations  were  made  in  it  in  1 799.  Thus  the  discoveries  of 
Niepce  and  Daguerre  were  anticipated,  but  the  secret  died 
with  him.  There  has  been  found  the  mention  of  a  camera 
belonging  to  one  of  the  Wedge  woods  in  1791.  Investigators. 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  357 

place  the  dates  of  the  first  experiments  in  photography  as 
early  as  1790-91.  At  this  latter  date  it  is  known  that 
Thomas  Wedgewood,  the  celebrated  porcelain  manufacturer, 
had  a  camera  repaired.  He  subsequently  published  his 
method  in  the  Journals  of  the  Royal  Institution  in  1803. 
He  and  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  experimented  with  paper  and 
leather  soaked  in  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver,  which  they 
changed  later  on  for  chloride  of  silver,  as  they  found  that  to 
be  far  more  sensitive  to  the  action  of  light.  This  was  a  cor- 
roboration  of  the  results  obtained  by  Scheele.  Their  work 
proved  abortive  because  they  could  not  permanently  fix  the 
impressions  secured.  This  was  a  difficulty  which  even  Sir 
Humphrey's  superior  chemical  skill  could  not  surmount. 
The  crying  need  of  the  hour  was  some  agent  to  fix  the 
picture.  Many  media  for  this  purpose  had  been  proposed 
and  experimented  with,  but  nothing  was  found  to  be  thor- 
oughly practical  until  a  soda  salt  was  tried.  This  salt,  the 
hyposulphite,  was  discovered  in  1799  by  Chassier,  but  Sir 
John  Herschel  first  employed  it  for  photographic  purposes 
in  1840. 

In  1814  M.  Nicephore  Niepce,  of  Chalons,  on  the  Saone, 
commenced  his  experiments  in  heliography,  as  he  called  it. 
He  gave  Daguerre  the  benefit  of  his  extensive  experience, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  the  means  of  securing 
for  Daguerre  the  name  and  fame  which  have  been  accorded 
him.  Niepce  died  in  1833,  a°d  on  June  I4th,  1837,  ms  son» 
M.  Joseph  Isidore  Niepce,  made  an  arrangement  with  M. 
Louis  Jacques  Mande  Daguerre  that  they  should  pursue 
their  investigations  together  and  that  the  results  should  be 

&  o 

for  their  mutual  benefit.  Niepce  followed  his  father's  pro- 
cess, but  did  not  succeed  in  making  any  especial  improve- 


358  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

ment  on  it,  while  Daguerre  so  perfected  his  theory  that  the 
old  way  was  abandoned.  Daguerre's  process  was  the  mak- 
ing of  pictures  in  the  camera  upon  iodized  silver  plates.  The 
improvements  made  upon  it  soon  caused  the  art  to  become 
of  practical  and  commercial  value,  and  its  devotees  were 
counted  by  the  thousands.  This  process  was  announced 
publicly  in  1839,  and  the  scientific  world  is  said  to  have  been 
surprised  and  delighted  at  the  beauty  of  the  pictures  he  ex- 
hibited. * 

The  oldest  sun  picture  in  existence  is  one  that  was  pro- 
duced by  the  elder  Niepce  some  time  before  1820.  It  is  a 
carbon  photograph  and  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 
"  It  is  on  a  white  metal  plate,  the  clean  surface  of  which  forms 
the  lights,  and  dark  bitumen,  a  substance  early  found  to  be 
sensitive  to  light,  the  shadows." 

In  1839  Mr.  Mungo  Ponton  proclaimed  the  discovery  that 
the  bichromate  of  potash  was  powerfully  affected  by  the  rays 
of  the  sun  when  it  was  spread  on  paper.  A  little  later 
Becquerel  commenced  experimenting  upon  this  salt  in  com- 
bination with  organic  matters,  such  as  starch  and  isinglass. 
He  discovered  that  the  mixture  formed  a  film  which  could  be 
made  insoluble  in  water  by  exposing  it  to  the  light.  In  1835 
Professor  J.  W.  Draper,  of  the  University  of  New  York, 
chronicled  a  series  of  his  experiments  in  this  line  in  the 
J.  Franklin  Institute.  He  used  the  bromide  of  silver  and 
other  compounds  more  sensitive  than  any  others  that  had 
ever  been  employed. 

Independently  of  the  discoveries,  inventions,  and  experi- 
ments of  others,  Mr.  Henry  Fox  Talbot,  of  Lacock  Abbey, 
was  led  accidentally  to  try  the  nitrate  of  silver  process,  with 
which  he  experimented  in  1834.  He  presented  the  Royal 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  359 

Society  with  a  paper,  on  January  ist,  1839,  entitled  "The 
Art  of  Photogenic  Drawing."  His  early  pictures  were  all 
negative  or  reversed,  as  the  light  was  shade  in  them,  and  the 
shade  was  light.  He  secured  a  patent  February  8th,  1841, 
He  called  these  pictures  Calotypes,  but  the  name  was  changed 
later  to  Talbotypes. 

In  1848  Niepce  de  St.  Victor,  a  nephew  of  Nicephore  de 
Niepce,  used  a  glass  plate  coated  with  iodized  albumen,  but 
not  very  successfully.  M.  Blanquart  made  it  more  practical, 
but  it  was  perfected  by  M.  Le  Gray.  Waxed  paper  was 
afterward  introduced  by  Le  Gray,  which  became  a  great 
favorite.  This  paper  was  rendered  translucent  by  the  use  of 
white  wax.  He  also  suggested  the  collodion  process,  though, 
it  was  left  for  Archer,  of  London,  to  make  it  a  practical 
success. 

In  1855,  M.  Poitevin,  of  Paris,  made  the  next  important 
advance  in  the  art  by  producing  the  first  photographs  in  pig- 
ments. His  description,  deposited  with  the  Prefect  of  the 
Seine,  is  as  follows  :  "  I  apply  various  liquid  and  solid  colors 
to  paper,  cloth,  glass,  and  other  surfaces,  by  mixing  such 
colors  with  the  compound  of  a  chromate  or  bichromate  and 
organic  matter  and  applying  the  new  mixture  to  the  paper  or 
other  surface.  The  photographic  impression  is  produced 
upon  this  prepared  surface  by  the  action  of  light  passing 
through  a  negative  photographic  picture  or  other  suitable 
object  or  screen,  and  it  is  then  washed  with  a  sponge  and  a 
large  quantity  of  water.  The  albumen,  or  other  organic 
matter,  is  rendered  insoluble  at  the  parts  where  it  has  been 
acted  upon  by  the  light,  and  the  design  is  thus  reproduced  in 
the  color  which  has  been  employed."  But  others,  not  know- 
ing of  his  process,  reached  the  same  results.  In  those  pic- 


360  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

tures  there  was  a  deficiency  of  half  tone,  and  they  had  not 
that  delicacy  to  which  the  public  had  become  accustomed  in 
the  photograph.  After  long  discussion  and  many  trials  the 
desired  result  was  reached  by  printing  on  one  side  and  wash- 
ing on  the  other,  so  that  the  thin,  insoluble  surface  that  would 
naturally  form  the  half  tones  should  not  be  washed  away. 
This  method  was  at  first  thought  to  be  almost  if  not  quite 
impossible,  but  the  feat  was  accomplished  by  a  Mr.  Swan,  of 
Newcastle,  one  of  a  firm  of  noted  chemists  and  makers  of 
photograph  materials  in  that  town.  His  process  is  to  coat 
the  paper  evenly  with  gelatine,  sugar,  and  the  coloring  pig- 
ment. For  this  he  has  a  specially  contrived  machine  and  is 
able  to  do  it  on  a  large  scale.  He  next  renders  the  surface 
sensitive  by  drawing  it  through  a  solution  of  bichromate  of 
potash  and  exposes  it  in  the  usual  way  behind  the  negative. 
The  results  of  the  exposure  are  not  visible,  nothing  but  a 
sheet  of  shining  black  paper,  from  which  the  picture  has  to 
be  brought  by  washing,  not  the  exposed  surface,  but  the 
reverse.  To  accomplish  this  he  cements  the  paper  by  means 
of  an  India  rubber  solution,  face  downward,  upon  another 
sheet  of  paper  and  lets  the  cement  dry.  Then  it  is  immersed 
in  water,  the  India  rubber  protecting  the  impressed  surface 
of  the  film,  but  the  water  soon  penetrates  the  other  paper, 
softens  the  gelatine  under  it,  and  permits  the  removal  of  the 
first  paper.  This  leaves  the  back  of  the  film  exposed.  It  is 
then  thoroughly  washed  until  the  unhardened  parts  are  all 
cleansed  away,  and  the  picture  stands  forth  in  all  its  loveli- 
ness ;  high  lights,  delicate  middle  tints,  and  deep  shade,  as 
accurately  fixed  as  in  the  finest  silver  printed  photographs. 
The  image  is  now  reversed,  so  it  becomes  necessary  to  re- 
mount it  in  its  first  position.  This  is  done  by  coating  with 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  361 

pure  gelatine  and  pressing-  it  on  to  the  card  which  is  to 
finally  receive  it.  Then  it  becomes  necessary  to  remove  the 
India  rubber  paper  which  is  now  on  top.  For  this  a  little 
benzole  is  used  which  dissolves  the  rubber  without  injury  to 
the  gelatine,  and  when  the  loosened  paper  comes  off  the 
picture  is  finished.  This  is  a  less  troublesome  and  a  much 
cheaper  process  than  the  ordinary  photographs.  These 
pictures  are  also  very  permanent.  The  work  of  simple 
photography  is  marvelous,  but  it  is  thought  that  the  multi- 
tude of  pictures  secured  by  photegenic  action,  both  in  form 
and  material,  goes  beyond  the  category  of  marvels  and  is 
considered  almost  miraculous.  India  ink  sketches  are  repro- 
duced in  India  ink,  sepia,  in  sepia,  red  chalk,  in  red  chalk,  etc. 
These  prints  are  called  Autotypes,  and  it  has  been  well  said 
of  them  :  "  Surely  this  is  the  greatest  triumph  that  any  pro- 
ductive art  has  yet  achieved."  By  means  of  these  pictures 
and  a  small  outlay  of  money  the  works  of  the  great  masters 
may  be  studied. 

Previous  to  1854,  all  photographic  work  had  been  done 
with  moist  plates,  or  plates  freshly  prepared.  This  made  the 
impedimenta  for  field  work  very  cumbersome.  In  La  Lumiere 
of  April  22d,  and  May  27th,  1854,  M.  Gaudin  describes  his 
researches  and  experiments  with  dry  plates.  In  August  of 
the  same  year  Mr.  Muirhead,  of  England,  announced  that 
light  acted  almost  as  satisfactorily  on  a  dry  surface  as  on  a 
wet  one.  Dr.  Taupenot,  however,  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  one  to  use  a  dry  plate  to  advantage.  These  plates  have 
been  so  improved  that  photographs  can  now  be  taken  in  the 
merest  fraction  of  a  second.  By  their  employment  flash-light 
pictures  have  become  a  possibility.  These  lights  are  pro- 
duced by  scattering  powdered  magnesium  into  a  lamp  flame. 


362  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

The  forms  of  these  lamps  are  many  and  ingenious.  They 
are  usually  spirit  lamps,  having  connected  to  them  a  recep- 
tacle for  holding  the  powdered  magnesium,  with  a  pneumatic 
ball  and  tube  attached.  By  pressing  the  ball,  a  puff  of  wind 
drives  the  powder  into  the  blaze.  This  light  is  used  for  taking 
interiors  and  other  places  where  sunlight  is  not  available. 

A  most  valuable  improvement  in  all  dry-plate  processes 
was  the  introduction  of  the  alkaline  developer.  It  is  of 
American  origin,  being  used  by  Major  Russell,  in  1862.  By 
its  use  the  development  of  the  plates  is  greatly  accelerated. 

In  1864,  Bolton  and  Sayce  published  the  germ  of  the  col- 
lodion emulsion  process,  which  greatly  simplified  the  photo- 
graphic work  of  that  time.  Gelatine  was  substituted  for  the 
collodion  by  Dr.  R.  L.  Maddox,  in  1871.  This  process  was 
improved  through  the  experiments  of  several  men  until  it. 
reached  a  high  state  of  perfection,  and  is  the  best  now  in  use 
where  glass  plates  are  employed. 

Films  are  the  most  recent  improvements  in  the  sensitive 
surfaces  used  in  photography.  By  them  the  art  has  been 
well-nigh, revolutionized.  Mr.  Woodbury,  in  1876,  invented 
a  material  as  transparent  as  glass.  He  combined  collodion, 
castor  oil,  and  Canada  balsam,  wrhich  he  spread  and  dried  on 
a  sheet  of  glass.  An  emulsion  coating  which  was  sensitive 
to  the  light  was  next  applied,  and  after  drying  thoroughly  the 
sheet  of  the  compound  was  stripped  from  the  glass  and  cut 
into  requisite  sizes.  By  its  flexibility,  it  modified  the  whole 
business  of  changing  plates,  as  this  could  now  be  effected  by 
a  handle  on  the  outside  of  the  camera.  A  Mr.  Warnerke 
took  up  the  same  idea  a  few  years  after,  and  patented  a 
roller  slide  on  which  strips  of  these  films  could  be  operated 
in  the  instrument. 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  363: 

Messrs.  Morgan  &  Kidd  first  applied  a  gelatine  emulsion 
to  paper  which  has  become  known  as  bromide  paper.  It  is 
chiefly  used  in  enlarging,  though  it  was  originally  intended 
to  use  it  for  negative  work,  as  the  paper  was  subsequently 
rendered  transparent.  The  Eastman  Company  introduced  a 
film  of  excellent  quality,  which  they  wound  on  spools  to  be 
inserted  in  the  camera.  When  the  strip  had  been  entirely 
used,  it  was  taken  out,  the  negatives  separated  by  cutting 
them  apart,  and  then  they  were  made  translucent  by  a  prep- 
aration of  vaseline. 

Transparent  and  flexible  celluloid  has  brought  photog- 
raphy to  still  greater  perfection.  This  substance  was 
invented  and  proposed  for  photographic  use  by  Parkes,  in 
1855,  kut  as  collodion  dissolved  it,  it  could  not  be  employed. 
Being  insoluble  in  water  it  makes  the  best  backing  for  a 
gelatine  film.  It  is  now  made  nearly  as  clear  as  glass  and  is 
the  best  thing  yet  introduced.  It  is  made  thin  enough  to  be 
wound  on  spools  and  used  in  roll  holders.  While  it  costs 
more  than  glass  it  is  very  generally  used.  Its  advantages 
are  that  it  is  not  fragile,  but  light  and  portable,  and  free  from 
the  halations,  or  blurrings,  which  are  caused  principally  by 
reflections  from  the  back  surface  of  glass. 

Photographic  lenses  are  of  two  kinds  :  those  used  in  taking 
portraits,  and  those  for  views.  The  portrait  lenses  are  of 
large  aperture  but  give  a  small  image,  while  the  view  lenses 
have  a  small  aperture  but  give  a  much  larger  image.  There 
is  a  portrait  lens  called  a  doublet,  by  which  views  can  be 
taken.  Generally,  however,  views  may  not  be  taken  by  por- 
trait lenses,  but  portraits,  under  some  circumstances  may  be 
taken  by  the  view  lenses.  The  single  view  lens  is  the 
cheapest,  and  for  views  alone  has  not  been  excelled. 


364  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Photographic  lenses  have  been  improved  in  various  ways. 
Aluminum  is  now  used  for  their  mountings  instead  of  brass, 
which  reduces  their  weight.  The  lens  diaphragms  have  also 
been  improved  by  a  contrivance  which  expands  and  contracts 
like  the  iris  of  the  eye.  For  this  reason  it  is  called  the  Iris 
lens.  This  arrangement  consists  of  several  flat  blades  or 
tongues  of  thin,  blackened  metal,  which  are  fastened  to  a  ring 
in  the  lens  mount.  By  turning  this  ring,  expansion  or  con- 
traction is  caused,  thus  increasing  or  reducing  the  aperture 
as  desired.  By  the  use  of  the  Jena  optical  glass  in  these 
lenses,  a  larger  field  can  be  covered  with  a  given  aperture 
than  formerly.  The  first  great  improvement  upon  Daguerre's 
process  was  in  the  use  of  enlarged  lenses,  by  means  of  which 
Mr.  Draper,  of  New  York,  was  the  first  to  secure  portraits 
from  life. 

Improvements  in  the  printing  of  photographs  have  kept 
pace  with  those  of  the  other  departments,  and  there  seems  to 
be  little  left  to  be  desired  in  this  noble  art. 

As  a  description  of  the  largest  photograph  in  the  world, 
on  exhibition  at  the  Columbian  Exposition,  may  be  interest- 
ing to  many,  it  is  inserted :  "  D.  R.  Day,  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company,  has  placed  in  position  the  largest  photographic 
transparency  ever  made.  It  is  seven  feet  long  and  fifty 
inches  high,  and  is  a  photograph  of  a  relief  map  of  the  United 
States,  showing  the  oil-bearing  districts.  Photographers  stand 
before  the  colored  transparency,  in  the  north  gallery  of  the 
Mines  building,  and  declare  it  to  be  the  bie^est  thino-  in  the 

<->  oo  o 

Exposition,  and  so  it  is,  from  their  standpoint.  J.  K.  Hillers, 
of  the  United  States  geological  survey,  is  the  man  who  made 
the  wonderful  photograph.  He  is  known  among  his  craft  as 
the  best  photographer  on  large  work  in  the  country,  but  he 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  365 

distinctly  affirms  that  money  cannot  tempt  him  to  even 
attempt  to  make  another  seven-foot  picture.  Enlarged  bro- 
mide prints  on  paper  have  been  made  that  came  within  half  a 
foot  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company's  photograph,  but  to  place  a 
photograph  on  a  piece  of  plate  glass  which  could  fill  up  a 
seven-foot  window  has  heretofore  been  deemed  impossible. 

"  The  model  relief  map  was  started  three  years  ago.  It  is 
made  of  wood  veneers,  one-thirty-second  of  an  inch  thick,  each 
thickness  representing  one  hundred  feet  of  elevation.  The 
map  was  built  up  of  these  veneers,  and  then  carved  in  relief 
and  a  plaster  cast  taken.  With  the  light  striking  it  from 
the  northwest,  it  was  photographed,  the  lights  and  shadows 
giving  it  a  beautiful  tone.  When  the  negative  was  trans- 
ferred to  paper,  the  States,  lakes,  and  names  were  drawn  in,, 
and  a  negative  was  taken  from  it  twenty  inches  square. 
This  negative  was  enlarged  to  the  size  of  the  transparency, 
twenty-four  inches  by  fifty  inches. 

"  No  ordinary  camera  could  do  the  work,  so  the  photog- 
rapher made  a  camera  of  a  room  twelve  by  fifteen  feet  in 
size.  The  room  was  blackened  inside  and  made  light  and 
even  air  tight.  The  shutter  was  placed  in  the  window  and 
the  lens  in  the  shutter.  Mr.  Hillers  had  three  expert  photog- 
raphers assisting  him  in  the  work,  and  they  built  a  silvering 
vat  which  used  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  worth  of  nitrate 
of  silver,  and  a  developing  vat,  both  in  the  gigantic  camera, 
so  that  probably  for  the  first  time  the  camera  itself  was  used 
as  the  developing  room. 

"  The  work  was  focused  on  a  ground-glass  plate,  the  same 
size  as  the  photograph.  This  was  done  by  three  men  hold- 
ing the  plate  and  moving  it  back  and  forth  until  the  proper 
focus  was  secured.  Then  the  sensitive  plate  was  made  ready. 


566  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

This  was  a  piece  of  American  plate-glass,  three-eighths  of  an 
inch  thick,  made  and  polished  for  this  particular  picture.  The 
photographers  had  to  wait  two  months  for  proper  conditions 
of  light  and  temperature.  A  work  of  this  nature  had  never 
before  been  attempted  on  such  a  large  scale.  Mr.  Killers  was 
obliged  to  feel  his  way,  for  he  did  not  know  just  how  long  the 
plate  should  be  exposed.  A  test  was  first  made  with  a  small 
plate,  and  this  gave  him  an  approximate  measure  of  time. 

"With  rare  good  fortune,  the  first  exposure  of  the  new 
plate  was  a  success,  and  a  beautiful  photograph  was  secured. 
Then  a  specially  arranged  hose  was  turned  against  the  big 
plate  to  wash  away  the  chemicals.  It  took  an  hour  to  do 
this.  After  the  toning  process  came  the  matter  of  varnish. 
This  was  the  critical  phase  of  the  operation.  The  plate  was 
laid  on  four  rubber  balls,  one  at  each  corner,  and  Photog- 
rapher Hillers  tilted  it  while  an  assistant  poured  on  half  a 
gallon  of  varnish.  Success  still  remained  with  him,  and  the 
transparency  was  ready  for  its  colors. 

"  The  oil-bearing  districts  are  shown  in  yellow,  and  each 
particular  region  where  oil  is  actually  brought  to  the  surface 
is  shown  in  the  color  of  the  oil  itself.  It  took  four  months 
from  the  beginning,  when  the  first  negative  of  the  map  was 
taken,  to  finish  the  transparency.  It  is  valued  at  five  thou- 
sand dollars." 

The  next  largest  photograph  is  also  on  exhibition  at  this 
World's  Fair,  It  is  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  Manu- 
facturer's building.  It  measures  five  feet  in  length.  The 
subject  is  a  trade  name,  in  very  large  letters.  The  stem  of 
each  letter  is  decorated  with  the  figure  of  a  little  child.  Each 
figure  is  quaintly  and  differently  costumed,  which  makes  a 
beautiful  combination.  New  South  Wales  has  the  finest  com- 


PHOTOGRAPHY.  367 

plete  collection  of  photographs  at  the  Exposition.  Those  of 
this  country  in  the  Liberal  Arts  building  show  the  best  fea- 
tures of  New  South  Wales,  its  cities  and  landscapes. 

Perhaps  the  progress  of  the  art  from  its  first  inception  to 
the  present  time  will  be  best  appreciated  by  comparing  the 
lengths  of  time  required  for  exposure  of  the  plates  in  each 
process. 

Daguerre's  process  originally  required  thirty  minutes. 

The  calotype,  or  talbotype,  requires  two  or  three  minutes. 

The  collodion  process  takes  ten  seconds. 

The  collodion  emulsion  process  takes  fifteen  seconds. 

The  rapid  gelatine  emulsion  process  requires  one-fifteenth 
of  a  second. 

Films  require  one-thousandth  of  a  second. 

Think  of  it,  ye  rapid,  eighteenth  century  Americans  !  What 
a  penalty  our  grandmothers  had  to  pay  for  their  vanity ! 
Would  it  be  possible  for  us  to  sit  quietly  long  enough  to  have 
our  daguerreotypes  taken  ? 

The  extent  of  the  utility  of  the  art  will  never  be  measured, 
except  by  the  demand.  All  divisions  of  the  arts  and  sciences 
are  served  by  it.  By  the  wedding  of  the  camera  and  the 
telescope  sidereal  photography  has  become  a  possibility. 
The  photographer  presents  to  nature  a  retina  far  more  sen- 
sitive than  that  of  the  natural  eye.  It  correctly  records  the 
most  rapid  motions  of  life,  as  a  trotting  horse,  a  moving 
train,  or  the  dust  of  an  approaching  cyclone. 

From  the  time  of  the  alchemists'  search  for  gold,  which 
opened  up  the  paths  for  modern  chemistry  by  its  accidental 
discoveries,  to  the  present  day  and  stage  of  its  perfection, 
photography  has  steadily  progressed  until  it  holds  an  undis- 
puted place  among  the  foremost  of  the  arts. 


SEWING-MACHINES. 

S  far  back  in  the  beginnings  of  time  as  when  Adam  and 
Eve  held  a  monopoly  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences, 
the  accomplishment  of  sewing  was  ushered  into 
existence.  In  the  most  authoritative  account  which 
has  come  down  to  us  of  the  doings  of  our  first 
parents,  it  is  related  that  they  sewed  fig  leaves  together  to 
make  themselves  garments.  The  primitive  simplicity  of  their 
costumes  has  long  since  been  discarded  by  the  men  and 
women  of  civilized  communities,  and  with  the  advance  in 
complicity  of  attire  has  kept  pace  development  in  the  art  of 
sewing. 

For  ages  upon  ages  all  sewing  and  embroidery  was  per- 
formed by  slow,  laborious  hand  processes,  and  no  thought  of 
more  rapid  achievement  by  the  use  of  machinery  seems  ever 
to  have  been  dreamed  of  by  the  painstaking  toilers  with  the 
needle.  Marvelous,  truly,  have  been  the  fabrics  so  skillfully 
wrought  in  ingenious  devices,  but  great  and  wasteful  have 
been  the  time  and  labor  expended  upon  them.  That  no  one 
should  have  thought  of  the  application  of  machinery  to  the 
making  of  garments  is  indeed  surprising ;  but  it  had  been 
employed  for  centuries  as  a  substitute  for  almost  every  other 
form  of  handwork  before  any  attempt  was  made  to  construct 
a  sewing-machine. 
368 


SEWING-MACHINES.  369 

The  first  essays  to  make  a  machine  for  sewing  aimed  at  the 
imitation  of  hand  sewing,  using  but  a  needleful  of  thread,  and 
making  a  running  through-and-through  stitch.  It  was  found, 
however,  that  this  was  impracticable  for  many  reasons,  among 
others,  because  of  the  wear  on  the  thread — and  so  inventors 
sought  to  form  by  means  of  machinery  the  old  crochet  stitch. 
Until  Elias  Howe,  in  1844,  invented  the  lock  stitch,  made  by 
a  shuttle,  the  sole  use  to  which  sewing-machines  were  put 
was  to  embroider,  while  anything  in  the  shape  of  a  sewing- 
machine  was  unknown  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Charles  F.  Weisenthal,  in  1755,  invented  and  patented  a 
double-pointed  needle  for  hand  embroidery.  The  needle  had 
an  eye  in  the  centre,  and  was  to  be  manipulated  by  holding 
it  in  the  middle  with  the  fingers  in  such  a  way  that  it  should 
not  require  turning.  This  invention  maybe  perhaps  regarded 
as  the  first  step  toward  the  invention  of  a  sewing-machine. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and  the  first  of  this, 
several  inventions  foreshadowing  the  machine  of  later  date 
were  made.  In  1790  an  Englishman,  Thomas  Saint,  was 
granted  a  patent  for  a  machine  used  in  making  shoes.  This 
resembled  in  some  important  particulars  the  modern  sewing- 
machine.  By  means  of  a  needle  and  a  series  of  hooks  this 
machine  made  a  single-thread  chain-stitch.  For  some  reason 
the  invention  of  Saint  never  came  into  general  use.  In  1804 
a  French  patent  was  granted  to  Messrs.  Stone  and  Henderson 
for  a  machine  designed  for  the  making  of  wearing  apparel ; 
but  this,  too,  failed  of  general  adoption. 

After  several  other  but  partially  successful  ventures,  a 
Frenchman  named  Barthelemy  Thimonnier,  a  poor  tailor  of 
St.  Etienne,  invented,  in  1830,  a  wooden  crochet  sewing- 
machine.  Having  patented  it,  he  organized  in  1841  the  firm  of 
24 


3  JO  SEWING-MACHINES. 

"  Ferrand,  Thimonnier,  Germain  Petit  et  Cie."  He  succeeded 
in  interesting  in  the  enterprise  a  government  engineer,  who 
was  clever  enough  to  perceive  the  great  value  of  the  invention. 
Through  the  influence  of  this  friend,  a  factory  was  opened  in 
the  Rue  de  Sevres,  and  eighty  wooden  machines  were  set  in 
motion  for  the  making  of  army  clothing  by  contract.  But 
jealousy  and  ignorance  induced  an  angry  mob  to  make  an 
attack  upon  the  establishment,  destroy  the  machines,  and  force 
the  unhappy  inventor  to  take  refuge  in  flight.  Beaunier,  the 
government  engineer  who  had  assisted  him,  shortly  after 
died,  and  Thimonnier,  reduced  to  poverty,  was  compelled  to 
make  his  way  back  to  his  native  place,  St.  Etienne. 

Not  wholly  discouraged,  he  still  continued  to  work  at  his 
invention,  and  in  1848  he  produced  a  model  much  superior 
to  his  first  machine,  the  last  one  being  of  metal  instead  of 
wood,  as  formerly.  Through  the  aid  of  M.  Maguin,  of  Ville- 
franche,  he  obtained  a  patent  in  England,  and  this  time  he 
sold  the  patent  to  a  Manchester  company.  In  this  instance, 
as  is  usually  the  case,  the  public  were  slow  to  appreciate  the 
merits  of  a  new  invention.  A  workshop  was  established  in 
Paris,  but  was  destroyed  in  the  Revolution  of  1848.  Misfor- 
tune continued  to  befall  the  persevering  inventor,  and  after 
battling  for  many  years  with  adverse  fate,  he  died  in  poverty 
in  1857.  Thimonnier's  machine  used  a  hooked  needle  and 
made  a  chain-stitch.  It  is  still  regarded  as  a  remarkably 
clever  invention,  and  one  which  should  have  conferred  better 
returns  upon  its  originator. 

Among  other  machines  which  followed  Thimonnier's  inven- 
tion was  one  for  producing  ornamental  stitching  upon  gloves, 
which  was  produced  by  Edward  Newton  and  Thomas  Arch- 
bold.  In  this  the  needle  worked  under  the  material,  forming 


SEWING-MACHINES.  371 

an  inverted  chain-stitch.  The  machine  had  six  needles,  which 
made  six  rows  of  stitches.  One  of  the  machines  patented  in 
America  was  adapted  for  working  in  leather,  and  was  the  in- 
vention of  John  Greenough.  It  was  patented  in  1842.  An- 
other American  machine  was  designed  by  Leonard  Bostwick. 
The  peculiarity  of  this  machine  consisted  in  its  having  a  sta- 
tionary horizontal  needle,  against  which  the  cloth,  after  being 
crimped  by  toothed  wheels,  was  passed.  The  result  was 
a  running  stitch  suitable  for  joining  laces,  or  other  loose 
sewing. 

It  is  not  until  December,  1844,  that  we  find  a  patent  grantee! 
to  any  one  for  a  lock-stitch  machine.  In  this  year,  John  Fisher 
and  James  Gibbons  invented  and  patented  a  sewing-machine^, 
operating  by  means  of  a  shuttle,  which  carried  thread,  gimp,, 
or  cord.  The  shuttle  was  given  a  reciprocating  motion,  so 
that  it  came  between  the  thread  and  the  bent  part  of  the  as- 
cending needle,  by  which  movement  it  left  its  own  thread  to 
be  caught  down  by  the  needle  in  its  descent.  This  machine 
was  designed  for  working  patterns  on  fabrics.  The  same  in- 
ventor, at  the  same  time,  patented  a  machine  for  embroider- 
ing. The  inventor  of  these  machines,  John  Fisher,  of  Not- 
tingham, was  at  that  time  a  young  man,  but  nineteen  years 
of  age.  The  shuttle  machine,  which  he  had  originated,  in  all 
unconsciousness  of  the  future  usefulness  which  lay  hidden  in 
his  invention,  was  later  developed  into  a  sewing-machine.  But 
the  young  inventor  confessed  that  he  had  not  in  his  own  mind 
any  thought  of  constructing  a  sewing-machine,  and  was  not 
aware  that  he  had  done  so. 

It  is  to  Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  an  American  born  at  Spencer, 
Mass.,  in  1819,  the  son  of  a  farmer  and  small  mill-owner,  that 
the  honor  of  being  the  inventor  of  the  first  sewing-machine 


372  SEWING  MACHINES. 

capable  of  successful  and  practical  operation,  is  generally  con- 
ceded to  belong.  In  1835,  young  Howe  went  to  Lowell  to 
serve  with  a  manufacturer  of  cotton  machinery,  at  the  munifi- 
cent salary  of  fifty  cents  a  day.  By  the  financial  panic  of 
1837,  he  was  deprived  of  work,  and  going  to  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  he  obtained  a  position  in  the  shop  of  a  Boston  machin- 
ist, named  Ari  Davis.  In  the  quiet  hours  snatched  from  this 
occupation,  there  first  occurred  to  him  the  idea  of  making  a 
sewing-machine.  Once  the  thought  had  obtained  a  lodgment 
in  his  mind,  every  leisure  moment  was  devoted  to  his  darling 
project.  For  five  years  he  planned  and  devised,  at  the  end 
of  that  time,  in  May,  1845,  produced  a  model  of  a  sewing- 
machine.  This,  owing  to  his  poverty,  he  was  enabled  to  do 
only  through  the  pecuniary  assistance  of  an  old  school-mate, 
George  Fisher.  With  this  friend  he  formed  a  partnership, 
and  in  September,  1846,  he  secured  a  patent  for  the  first  prac- 
tical sewing-machine. 

But  the  path  of  the  inventor  is  by  no  means  strewn  with 
roses.  The  artisans  of  Boston,  bitterly  opposed  to  any  form 
of  labor-saving  machines,  refused  to  make  use  of  the  inven- 
tion, and  Mr.  Howe  was  forced  to  seek  employment  as  an 
engineer  on  the  railroad.  His  health  failing  him,  in  this  oc- 
cupation, in  1847  he  ma-de  a  visit  to  England,  in  the  hope  of 
finding  there  a  more  favorable  reception  for  the  masterpiece 
of  his  genius.  All  in  vain.  No  better  success  awaited  him 

<^ 

there,  and  without  even  money  to  pay  for  a  return  voyage,  he 
worked  his  way  back  to  the  United  States  as  a  common 
sailor.  During  his  stay  in  England,  he  had  disposed  of  his 
rights  in  the  invention,  in  that  country,  and  had  made  changes 
in  the  machine  adapting  it  to  work  in  corset,  umbrella  and 
valise  manufacturing. 


SEWING-MACHINES.  373 

On  his  return  to  the  United  States,  he  found  that  unscrup- 
ulous persons  had  not  hesitated  to  take  advantage  of  his  ab- 
sence to  construct  imitations  of  his  machine,  regardless  of  the 
patent,  and  sell  them  throughout  the  country.  Through  the 
assistance  of  friends,  he  finally,  after  many  appeals  of  legal 
interference,  secured  the  recognition  of  his  first  right  to  the 
invention.  This  was  a  long  stride  toward  prosperity.  Success, 
so  long  eluding  him,  was  now  fairly  within  his  grasp.  In  the 
course  of  a  year  Mr.  Howe  was  able  to  repurchase  all  of  the 
patents  on  his  machine  which  adversity  had  obliged  him  to 
part  with.  On  every  sewing-machine  that  was  manufactured 
in  the  United  States  after  this  he  received  a  royalty,  and  the 
struggling  inventor  living  on  an  income  of  three  hundred 
dollars  a  year,  became  in  a  few  short  years  the  affluent  manu- 
facturer whose  yearly  income  amounted  to  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Everything  bent  before  him  now.  At  the 
expiration  of  his  patent  in  1867,  it  was  estimated  that  he  had 
netted  about  two  million  dollars  from  his  invention.  He  had 
organized  in  1863  a  company  of  which  he  was  president,  for 
the  manufacture  of  sewing-machines.  This  company  erected 
a  large  factory  at  Bridgeport,  where  an  extensive  business 
was  carried  on, 

During  the  civil  war  Mr.  Howe  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier 
in  the  Seventeenth  Connecticut  Regiment,  serving  in  this 
capacity  until  failing  health  obliged  him  to  resign.  He  ren- 
dered still  further  aid  to  the  government,  in  the  shape  of  an 
advance  of  money  to  pay  the  regiment,  when  the  government 
was  pressed  for  funds.  Many  medals  were  conferred  on  Mr. 
Howe,  in  recognition  of  his  great  achievements.  At  the 
World's  Fair  in  Paris  in  1867,  he  was  given  the  gold  medal, 
and  likewise  the  cross  of  the  legion  of  honor. 


374  SEWING-MACHINES. 

It  is  often  difficult  to  say  just  how  much  one  person  is  in- 
debted to  others  for  the  ideas  which  lead  to  his  attainments. 
Equally  perplexing  is  it  to  decide  always  to  just  which  one 
of  several  competing"  inventors  belongs  the  credit  of  having 
been  the  first  to  grasp  and  make  material  the  happy  thought. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  there  should  be  those  to 
contest  the  honor  ascribed  to  Elias  Howe  as  the  originator 
of  the  modern  sewing-machine.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that 
Walter  Hunt,  of  New  York,  was  the  true  inventor,  and  that 
Howe's  priority  was  only  in  the  obtaining  of  the  patent. 

Walter  Hunt  is  said  to  have  constructed,  between  1832 
and  1834,  a  sewing-machine  in  which  an  eye-pointed  needle 
fixed  to  the  end  of  a  vibrating  arm  carried  a  thread  through 
the  cloth,  forming  a  loop,  through  which  moved  a  shuttle 
bearing  another  thread,  the  result  being  a  stitch  now  known 
as  the  lock-stitch.  In  1854,  Mr.  Hunt  applied  for  a  patent 
for  his  machine,  but  this  was  refused  him  on  the  ground  that 
all  of  the  chief  features  of  his  invention  had  been  previously 
patented  by  Mr.  Howe.  It  was  held  that  the  right  of  Hunt 
to  a  patent  had  been  forfeited  by  abandonment.  It  is,  of 
course,  possible  that  had  Mr.  Hunt  entered  an  application 
for  a  patent  some  years  earlier,  Mr.  Howe  might  have  been 
compelled  to  share  with  him  the  honors  which  he  now  wears 
alone.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  no  one  will  certainly  deny 
that  the  rewards  which  the  lucky  aspirant  gained  were  justly 
due  to  the  energy  and  perseverance  which  marked  his  entire 
career  as  an  inventor. 

Sewing-machines  are  classified  according  to  the  form  of 
stitch  produced  by  them,  as  the  "  chain-stitch,"  "  double- 
loop,"  "lock-stitch,"  and  the  "buttonhole-stitch"  machines. 
In  the  chain-stitch  machine  but  one  thread  is  used,  and 


SEWING-MACHINES.  375 

this  is  looped  upon  itself  by  means  of  a  curved  needle 
or  hook  moving  beneath  the  fabric.  This  curved  needle 
catches  the  thread,  as  it  is  passed  through  the  cloth,  in  the 
eye  of  the  vertical  needle,  holding  it  until  the  needle  again 
descends  through  the  thread  loop  thus  produced.  The  ver- 
tical needle  rising,  draws  this  loop  up  on  the  lower  side  of 
the  cloth,  and  by  these  successive  ascents  and  descents  of 
the  needle  a  chain  of  stitches  is  formed.  This  stitch  is  rav- 
eled with  facility  by  merely  taking  hold  of  the  thread  after  it 
has  been  drawn  through  the  loop,  much  as  knitting  is  raveled. 
Because  of  this  quality  of  raveling,  the  chain-stitch  machines 
are  disliked  by  some  sewers,  and  for  certain  manufacturing 
purposes  they  are  manifestly  unsuited.  But  this  very  feature 
renders  this  often  a  most  convenient  machine  for  domestic 
use,  where  the  housekeeper  of  moderate  means  regards  the 
remodeling  of  garments  an  important  branch  of  the  family 
sewing- .  An  illustration  of  this  class  of  machines  is  the  Wil- 

o 

cox  &  Gibbs,  an  old  and  well-known  make. 

Two  threads  are  employed  in  the  double  loop-stitch  ma- 
chine, one  placed  above,  the  other  below  the  cloth,  the  upper 
thread  being  passed  through  the  eye  of  the  vertical  needle, 
while  the  lower  is  threaded  into  a  circular  needle  vibrating 
just  underneath  the  fabric.  The  vertical  needle  descends, 
carrying  the  upper  thread  with  it,  down  through  the  goods, 
to  be  here  caught  by  the  under  thread,  with  which  it  is  looped 
and  interlooped.  A  stitch  is  in  this  way  formed  which  is  in- 
terlooped  with  the  stitch  next  to  it,  giving,  on  the  under  side 
of  the  cloth,  the  appearance  of  three  threads,  while  the  upper 
side  presents  the  same  single-thread  stitch  of  the  chain- 
stitch  machine.  This  stitch,  drawn  firmly  to  its  place,  makes 
a  durable  and  strong  stitch,  well  adapted  to  either  plain  sew- 


376  SEWING-MACHINES. 

ing  or  embroidery.  This  is  the  stitch  of  the  Grover  &  Baker 
machines.  These  machines  use  a  large  quantity  of  thread, 
and  the  stitch,  like  the  chain-stitch,  is  easily  raveled.  This 
stitch  is  still  retained  in  machines  of  recent  manufacture,  al- 
though the  Grover  &  Baker,  the  machine  originally  produc- 
ing it,  is  no  longer  made. 

About  four-fifths  of  all  the  sewing-machines  now  used  are 
constructed  after  the  lock-stitch,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  termed, 
the  double  lock-stitch  pattern.  The  stitch  in  all  these  ma- 
chines is  the  same,  and  is  formed  on  substantially  the  same 
principles.  The  lock-stitch  is  a  double-thread  machine,  with  one 
thread  above  and  one  under  the  fabric.  The  stitch  is  in  every 
instance  produced  by  passing  one  thread  in  the  eye  of  a  ver- 
tical descending  needle  through  the  cloth,  and  then,  through 
the  loop  thus  made,  passing  another  thread,  usually  carried 
by  a  shuttle.  The  needle,  in  its  ascent,  draws  the  under 
thread  upward,  and  the  two  threads  are  securely  inter- 
locked in  the  cloth,  making  a  stitch  than  which  nothing 
could  be  more  serviceable  or  durable.  This  stitch  does 
not  ravel. 

There  are  many  different  kinds  of  machines  employing  the 
lock-stitch,  but  they  may  be  classified  into  two  large  divisions, 
distinguished  as  those  having  the  vibratory,  oscillatory,  or 
shuttle  movements,  and  those  made  wholly  on  the  rotary 
motion  principle.  The  Singer  and  the  Wheeler  &  Wilson 
machines  are  the  two  makes  of  sewing-machine  which  best 
illustrate  the  two  kinds  of  lock-stitch,  being  the  two  in  most 
general  use.  Other  lock-stitch  machines,  of  which  there  are 
many  hi^h-grade  varieties  manufactured,  are  the  Remington, 
the  Howe,  the  Florence,  the  Weed,  the  Domestic,  the  Ameri- 
can, and  others  less  widely  known.  All  of  these  alike  form 


SEWING-MACHINES.  377 

the  lock-stitch  on  the  principle  of  the  vibratory  or  oscillatory 
shuttle  motion,  or  on  that  of  the  rotary  motion. 

The  Singer  machine  had  originally  a  vibratory  or  recipro- 
cating shuttle,  which  supplied  the  lower  thread  to  the  machine. 
In  1878  the  company  adopted  the  oscillating  shuttle.  This 
shuttle  has  a  long  beak,  and  is  so  placed  as  to  seize  and  hold 
the  loop  until  the  needle  ascending  is  free  from  the  cloth. 
While  the  needle  is  raised  the  shuttle  passes  through  the 
loop,  pulling  the  thread  down  through  the  eye  of  the  needle. 
Much  strain  upon  the  thread  is  avoided  by  this  device,  the 
opening  in  the  cloth  allowing  the  thread  free  movement. 

The  Wheeler  &  Wilson  machines  are  constructed  on  the 
rotary  hook  principle.  This  consists  of  a  rotating  hook,  made 
by  a  disc  of  polished  steel,  with  curved,  pointed  ends,  and  a 
slot  cut  in  the  periphery.  This  disc  being  attached  to  a  hori- 
zontal pulley  shaft,  which  revolves  with  it,  casts  off  from  its 
edge  each  time  that  it  revolves  a  loop  made  by  the  upper 
thread  on  the  outside  of  the  needle,  passing  downward 
through  the  slot.  The  rotating  hook  catches  this  loop,  and 
draws  it  with  it  part  way  around,  and,  on  its  being  slipped 
off,  the  thread  is  a  second  time  partially  lifted  by  the  ascend- 
ing needle.  The  thread  crosses  the  bobbin,  interlocking  with 
the  bobbin  thread,  forming  loops,  which,  lightly  drawn  up, 
produce  the  lock-stitch.  The  bobbin  revolves  in  an  opposite 
direction  from  the  hook,  and  is  fitted  on  the  outer  side  of  the 
rotating  hook  in  a  concave  holder.  In  this  way  the  correct 
tension  is  secured,  while  the  proper  length  of  thread  for  each 
stitch  is  measured  off. 

The  stitch  of  the  buttonhole-stitch  machine  is  in  substance 
a  lock-stitch,  in  which  the  under  thread  is  carried  up  upon 
the  edge  of  the  buttonhole.  This  stitch  can  be  produced  by 


378  SEWING-MACHINES. 

means  of  an  attachment  applied  to  an  ordinary  machine.  The 
buttonhole-stitch  machine  works  automatically,  cutting  its 
own  buttonhole,  which  it  works  either  before  or  after  it  is  cut. 
It  cords  the  buttonhole  and  bars  the  end,  and  when  the  work 
is  completed  stops  automatically.  This  machine  is  a  marvel- 
ous piece  of  workmanship,  seeming  to  be  endowed  with 
something  like  intelligence  in  its  action.  One  of  these  ma- 
chines will  work  six  thousand  buttonholes  in  a  day;  fifteen 
hundred  stitches  per  minute  being  the  rate  of  speed.  They 
will  work  on  any  kind  of  goods,  from  the  finest  cambric  to 
the  heaviest  leather. 

Many  fancy  stitch  machines  have  been  manufactured  which 
can  do  back-stitching,  basting,  over-and-over  sewing,  hem- 
stitching, and,  in  fact,  almost  every  stitch  known  to  the  doer 
of  hand  needlework.  The  ordinary  machine  has  now  attach- 
ments for  doing  hemming,  binding,  ruffling,  quilting,  tucking, 
braiding,  and  other  forms  of  work,  which  the  earlier  inventions 
made  no  attempt  to  perform.  New  additions  are  being  con- 
stantly made  to  the  varying  execution  of  all  machines,  so  that 
the  instrument  of  a  year  is  found  lacking  beside  the  one  com- 
pleted to-day. 

The  machines  as  first  invented  by  Mr.  Howe  had  one  great 
defect,  which  was  exhibited  by  all  sewing-machines  of  that  and 
later  times.  There  was  no  way  of  moving  the  cloth  along  without 
interfering  with  the  operations  of  the  needle.  Many  attempts 
were  made  to  remedy  this  difficulty,  such  as  a  needle  vibrat- 
ing vertically,  and  thus  moving  the  fabric  along  ;  but  none 
proved  wholly  successful. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Wilson,  in  1851,  finally  invented  and  patented  a 
device  known  as  the  "four-motion  feed,"  which  exactly  met 
the  want.  This  apparatus  consists  of  a  serrated  bar  which 


SEWING-MACHINES.  379 

moves  in  a  slot  in  the  horizontal  plate  on  which  the  cloth  is 
fed.  The  four  motions  are  an  upward,  a  forward,  a  down- 
ward, and  a  backward  motion.  By  the  upward  motion  the 
teeth  of  the  serrated  bar  are  fastened  in  the  fabric,  the  for- 
ward motion  moves  the  cloth  forward,  the  downward  motion 
causes  the  teeth  to  lose  their  hold,  and  the  backward  motion 
consists  of  the  horizontal  passage  of  the  bar  backward  be- 
neath the  plate,  in  position  for  a  repetition  of  these  move- 
ments. The  motion  by  which  the  cloth  is  carried  forward  is 
timed  by  eccentrics  upon  a  wheel,  or  by  other  means,  so  that 
it  occurs  while  the  needle  is  raised,  thus  escaping  interference 
with  the  passage  of  the  cloth.  Mr.  Wilson's  invention  has 
since  been  adopted  by  all  machines  for  flat-bed  work.  By 
the  operation  of  this  four-motion  feed,  the  cloth  may  be 
turned  in  any  direction  without  stopping  the  machine,  an  im- 
provement greatly  expediting  and  otherwise  facilitating  sew- 
ing. In  the  Wilcox  &  Gibbs  machines  the  four  motions  are 
secured  by  a  single  eccentric,  and  an  invention  has  been  pro- 
duced by  which  the  number  of  stitches  to  the  inch  may  be 
determined. 

Although  not  half  a  century  has  passed  since  the  sewing- 
machine  became  practically  useful,  there  is  now  no  machine 
in  more  general  use.  The  economic  effects  of  this  invention 
can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  Entering  as  it  does  into  so 
universal  a  domestic  occupation  as  the  making  of  clothing,  it 
reaches  all  classes.  It  has  given  rise  to  an  entirely  new  in- 
dustry, the  sale  of  ready-made  clothing.  And  in  this  case,  as 
in  other  instances  where  machine  work  has  been  substituted 
for  hand-work,  the  result  has  been  ultimately  a  great  cheapen- 
ing in  the  price  of  the  finished  product.  Best  of  all,  it  has 
brought  to  the  over-burdened  woman,  too  closely  wedded  to 


380  SEWING-MACHINES. 

her  needle,  the  more  abundant  leisure  that  bespeaks  great 
good  both  for  body  and  mind.  Where  weeks  were  formerly 
consumed  in  the  making  of  garments,  as  many  days  will  now 
accomplish  far  more  satisfactory  results. 

True,  it  is  asserted  that  with  the  gain  in  rapidity  of  work, 
attained  by  the  sewing-machine,  has  come  elaboration  in 
clothing  to  counterbalance  it,  that  modern  aesthetic  taste  re- 
fuses to  be  satisfied  with  former  simple  fashions.  There  is 
doubtless  much  truth  in  this,  but  it  is  only  what  takes  place 
with  advance  in  any  department  of  industry.  The  progress 
of  civilization  brings  increase  of  wants  on  all  sides.  There  is 
no  limit  to  human  desires.  And  with  the  satisfying  of  these 
ever-multiplying  desires,  comes  a  fullness  and  broadness  of 
life  which  we  sum  up  in  the  term  civilization.  All  inventions 
pave  the  way,  indeed,  to  more  wants,  but  also  to  greater 
satisfactions. 


PRECIOUS  STONES. 

"  Thou  hast  been  in  Eden,  the  garden  of  God ;  every  precious  stone  was  thy  covering, 
the  sardius,  topaz,  and  the  diamond,  the  beryl,  the  onyx,  and  the  jasper,  the  sapphire,  the 
emerald,  and  the  carbuncle.  .  .  .  Thou  hast  walked  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  the  stones 
of  fire." — Ezekiel  xxviii,  13,  14. 

kRECIOUS  stones,  those  "  flowers  of  the  mineral  king- 
dom," as  they  are  most  appropriately  called,  have 
been,  from  time  immemorial,  the  symbols  of  power, 
beauty,  and  excellency,  and  they  abound  in  the 
imagery  of  Holy  Writ.  They  have  figured  prom- 
inently in  the  affairs  of  individuals  and  nations,  and  have 
been  the  inciting  cause  of  intrigues,  wars,  and  crimes.  The 
course  of  their  wanderings  has  been  marked  by  deception, 
theft,  and  murder.  To  put  it  most  mildly,  they  have  been 
the  occasion  of  a  vast  amount  of  exaggeration.  They  were 
venerated  by  the  ancients  and  endowed  with  many  super- 
natural attributes.  They  were  not  confined  alone  to  the 
imagery  of  Scripture,  but  play  a  prominent  part  in  its  reality, 
as  the  breast-plate  of  the  priests  and  the  reputed  wealth  of 
various  kings  and  nations  attest. 

Precious  stones  are  disseminated  throughout  the  entire 
world.  They  are  found  in  the  torrid  deserts  of  the  Dark 
Continent,  on  the  icy  steppes  of  Siberia,  in  the  tropical  heat 
of  India  and  the  Island  of  Ceylon,  amidst  the  glaciers  of 

^ 


382  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

Switzerland,  and  the  river  beds  of  South  America.  Ger- 
many and  Spain,  as  well  as  North  America,  contribute  their 
quota.  But  the  tropical  countries  seem  to  be  most  prolific. 

In  all  the  boundless  wealth  of  nature  there  is  nothing 
which  has  proved  so  fascinating  to  man,  from  time  beyond 
the  reach  of  history,  as  brilliancy.  So  it  should  not  excite 
surprise  that  precious  stones,  those  "  flowers  of  the  rock  "  to 
which  is  added  the  crowning  gift  of  durability,  should  have 
inspired  so  much  admiration,  not  to  say  veneration.  To  these 
peerless  little  objects  was  ascribed  a  spiritual,  as  well  as 
material  power,  ability  to  cure  disease,  avert  calamity,  and 
drive  away  bad  demons,  and  render  the  possessor  invulner- 
able and  invisible  at  will.  The  philosophers — Plato  and 
others — believed  that  the  minerals,  animals,  and  plants  were 
all  living  beings.  Theoprastus,  the  pupil  and  friend  of  Aris- 
totle, wrote  a  treatise  on  precious  stones,  but  the  entire  man- 
uscript is  not  now  supposed  to  be  in  existence.  He  attributed 
sex  to  them,  distinguished  by  their  brilliancy.  The  dullest 
were  the  female  ;  the  brightest,  male.  Dioscorides,  in  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  wrote  concerning  precious 
stones.  He  fully  develops  the  idea  that  they  possess  a  mul- 
titude of  secret  virtues,  which  is  even  yet  believed  by  many. 
These  tiny  bits  of  the  commonest  materials,  these  mere  crys- 
tals of  the  most  ordinary  clays  and  earths,  men  reputed  to 
be  very  wise,  as  the  world  counts  wisdom,  have  considered 
far  more  precious  than  liberty,  or  even  life. 

It  is  the  rarity,  beauty,  and  durability  of  a  stone  which  con- 
stitute its  preciousness.  The  market  for  gems  is  subject  to 
many  vicissitudes,  mainly  from  the  caprices  of  fashion.  Each, 
perhaps  with  the  exception  of  the  diamond,  has,  in  turn,  been 
abandoned  for  a  time  in  favor  of  some  new  favorite.  Upon 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  383 

their  introduction  again  to  favor,  they  usually  come  under  a 
new  name,  as  u  The  Uralian  Emerald,"  or  the  "  Cape  Ruby," 
etc.  The  beautiful  qualities  of  very  few  of  the  gems  are 
apparent  when  they  are  first  found.  This  is  particularly  true 
of  the  brilliant  ones.  These  concentrated  treasures  of  the 
earth  most  commonly  appear  as  water-worn  pebbles,  rough- 
ened and  indented  by  the  attrition  and  blows  received  during 
the  years,  and  even  centuries,  of  their  pilgrimage  upon  the 
earth.  But  few  are  found  in  their  native  bed  or  matrix,  but 
have  traveled  by  means  of  flood  and  other  natural  agencies, 
often  far  from  the  place  of  their  formation.  There  is,  prob- 
ably, nothing  so  difficult  to  satisfactorily  describe  as  a  beau- 
tiful gem,  as  the  nomenclature  of  colors,  etc.,  required  is 
neither  adequate  nor  accurate. 

There  is  no  decay  to  gems.  They  may  lie  buried  for  cen- 
turies beneath  volcanic  lava  and  ashes  or  other  detritus,  be 
incarcerated  in  the  grasp  of  a  mummy,  or  awaiting  their  dis- 
covery in  their  own  native  beds,  but  when  finally  exhumed 
they  still  gleam  in  their  original  splendor  and  magnificence. 

The  Jews  entertained  many  strange  superstitions  regard- 
ing the  mysterious  influence  of  precious  stones.  They  fore- 
told future  events  by  the  change  in  color  or  brilliancy.  For 
this  purpose  they  used  twelve  precious  stones  on  which  were 
engraved  as  many  anagrams  of  the  name  of  God.  In  the 
Talmud  it  is  stated  that  Noah  derived  all  the  light  he  had  in 
the  ark  from  precious  stones.  Gyges,  King  of  Lydia,  is  said 
to  have  had  a  ring  by  which  the  wearer  was  rendered  invis- 
ible. He  died  680  B.  C. 

The  ancients  believed  there  was  a  mysterious  sympathy 
between  the  seven  planets  and  seven  of  the  precious  stones ; 
the  Turquoise  had  relation  to  Saturn;  Carnelian  to  Jupiter, 


PRECIOUS    STONES. 


Emerald  to  Mars ;  Diamond,  the  Sun  ;  Amethyst,  Venus ; 
Lodestone,  Mercury  ;  and  Crystal,  the  Moon.  There  was 
also  supposed  to  be  a  similar  relation  between  the  months 
of  the  year  and  the  precious  stones. 


January — Garnet,  for  constancy  and  fidel- 
ity. 

February — Amethyst,  sincerity. 

March — Bloodstone,  courage,  presence  of 
mind. 

April — Diamond,  innocence. 

May — Emerald,  success  in  love. 

June — Agate,  health  and  long  life. 


July — Carnelian,  contented  mind. 
August — Sardonyx,  conjugal  fidelity. 
September — Chrysolite,    antidote     against 

madness. 

October — Opal,  hope. 
November — Topaz,  fidelity. 
December — Turquoise,  sincerity. 


In  the  olden  days,  precious  stones  were  considered  the 
most  acceptable  offerings  to  the  gods,  and  the  temples  and 
shrines  would  be  the  objective  point  of  the  marauder  in  times 
of  conquest  and  war,  on  account  of  the  vast  accumulation  of 
wealth  in  them. 

Precious  stones,  being  one  of  the  factors  in  the  world's 
wealth,  have  a  literature  exclusively  their  own,  but  there  is 
much  to  be  learned  of  them  through  general  literature,  as 
well  as  from  works  which  are  exclusively  scientific. 


DIAMONDS. 

These  glorious,  mysterious  gems,  surpassing  all  others  in 
hardness  and  brilliancy,  take  first  rank  among  the  precious 
stones.  The  diamond  is  aptly  called  the  "king  of  gems," 
for  there  are  none  which  excel,  and  very  few,  indeed,  which 
can  even  approach  its  loveliness. 

The  Greeks  attributed  the  origin  of  all  precious  stones  to 
their  gods.  Fantastic  notions  constituted  the  general  belief 
regarding  the  origin  of  gems.  Those  pertaining  to  each  will 


i'RECIOUS    STONES.  385 

be  noted  in  its  account.  The  youth  who  rocked  the  cradle  of 
Jupiter  on  the  island  of  Crete  was  transformed  into  the 
u  adamas,"  the  Greek  for  diamond,  and  fell  to  the  ground 
amid  lightnings  and  thunder. 

The  diamond  is  commonly  found  in  connection  with  gold, 
and  Plato  described  it  for  this  reason  as  like  the  kernel  of 
the  gold,  and  he  supposed  it  was  the  noblest  and  purest  part 
which  had  become  condensed  into  a  transparent  mass.  The 
Greeks  thought  that  rock  crystal  was  a  congelation,  like  ice, 
and  could  only  be  found  in  the  coldest  regions.  They  called 
these  crystals  "  unripe  diamonds,"  and  the  real  gems  "  ripe 
diamonds." 

There  are  six  kinds  of  diamonds  :  Ethiopian,  Indian,  Ara- 
bian, Macedonian,  Cyprian,  and  the  Siderite,  which  last  re- 
sembles polished  steel.  There  have  also  been  diamonds 
found  in  the  United  States,  but  not  so  plentifully  as  to  estab- 
lish a  special  class.  Diamonds  are  found  in  all  colors,  even 
black,  but  the  tints  are  usually  very  light.  While  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  diamonds  found  are  white,  a  perfectly  color- 
less transparent  gem  is  rarer  than  would  be  supposed.  The 
application  of  heat  will  modify  their  colors,  sometimes  per- 
manently, and  sometimes  they  will,  after  a  time,  return  to 
their  original  condition.  As  yet,  there  has  been  no  satisfac- 
tory theory  advanced  for  this  variety  of  tints,  and  Nature 
still  keeps  her  secret  not  only  of  the  forming  of  the  diamond, 
but  its  tinting,  intact.  It  is  thought  that  the  yellow  diamond 
has  the  greatest  variety  of  tint.  Rose-colored  ones  are  not 
numerous,  but  the  deep,  rich  red  ones  are  extremely  rare. 
A  few  only  of  these  latter  are  on  record.  The  Emperor 
Paul,  of  Russia,  bought  one  for  one  hundred  thousand  rou- 
bles. It  weighed  ten  carats.  There  are  several  specimens 
25 


386  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

of  the  other  reddish  shades  to  be  found  in  the  different  col- 
lections of  Europe.  Blue  diamonds  are  nearly  as  beautiful 
and  rare  as  the  red.  These  gems  differ  from  sapphires  in 
the  quality  of  the  tints  and  the  play  of  colors  peculiar  to  the 
diamond.  Unless  some  have  been  found  lately  in  Brazil  or 
South  Africa,  the  only  ones  known  were  found  in  the  old 
mines  of  India.  Green  diamonds  are  also  of  various  shades, 
but  the  pure  emerald  or  grass-green  hue  is  very  rare,  but 
when  found  it  surpasses  the  brilliancy  and  fire  of  the  finest 
emeralds,  There  is  one  in  Dresden  which  has  been  consid- 
ered "  one  of  the  five  paragons  among  all  the  gems  of  the 
world."  It  is  supposed  that  an  American  amateur  of  precious 
stones  owns  the  finest  specimen  of  green  diamond  ever 
found.  Black  diamonds  are  exceedingly  rare.  One  was  ex- 
hibited at  the  London  Exposition  in  1851,  which  was  the  ad- 
miration of  all  experts,  because  of  its  size  and  color.  It  is  a 
wonderful  gem,  weighing  three  hundred  and  fifty  carats,  and 
of  a  coal  black  hue.  Others  of  a  brown  hue  have  been 
found,  and  occasionally  those  of  a  cloudy  or  milky  appear- 
ance, like  opals,  are  discovered. 

Diamond  mines  consist  generally  of  mere  diggings  and 
washings  of  the  mud  of  rivers.  The  loose  earth  containing 
the  diamonds  lies  always  a  little  below  the  surface,  toward 
the  lower  outlet  of  broad  valleys  rather  than  upon  the  sum- 
mits of  the  surrounding  hills.  It  is  supposed  that  diamonds 
have  a  volcanic  origin,  and  were  thrown  forcibly  out  in  some 
convulsion  of  nature  and  scattered  broadcast  much  in  the 
same  way  as  a  spray  might  be  on  a  smaller  scale.  Some 
have  thought  them  to  be  the  crystallization  of  petroleum, 
with  which  the  matrix  was  saturated  during  the  coal  period. 
Newton  advanced  the  idea  that  they  were  of  an  unctuous  sub- 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  387 

stance  which  coagulated,  and  subsequently  crystallized. 
Other  eminent  philosophers  have  held  the  same  opinion. 
Sir  David  Brewster  believed  the  diamond  was  once  a  mass 
of  gum,  which  came  from  a  species  of  wood,  crystallized  in 
the  processes  of  nature.  It  has  been  thought  to  be  of  more 
recent  origin  than  gold,  for  some  specimens  have  been  found 
containing  that  precious  metal.  The  possibility  has  been 
suggested  that  it  is  still  in  the  process  of  formation,  with 
capacity  for  growth.  But  all  this  conflict  of  opinion  has  not 
resulted  in  a  definite  knowledge  of  its  origin.  The  matrix, 
in  which  the  gem  is  found,  seems  to  vary  in  different  coun- 
tries. In  India  it  occurs  in  a  sort  of  sandstone  breccia  or  "  pud- 
ding-stone," consisting  of  horneblende,  jasper,  chalcedony, 
and  quartz,  cemented  together  by  a  silicious  substance.  This 
conglomerate,  broker!  into  loose  pebbles,  forms  the  diamond 
fields.  In  Africa  and  Brazil  jasper,  granite,  itacolumite,  and 
peridot  are  indicative  of  the  presence  of  diamonds.  In 
Australia  its  associates  are  shales,  trap-rocks,  sandstones, 
and  conglomerates.  Agassiz  believed  that  the  formation 
bearing  diamonds  was  the  glacial  drift. 

The  remarkable  brilliancy  of  the  diamond  is  thought  to  be 
due  to  its  great  reflecting  power,  as  it  throws  back  all  the 
light  falling  upon  it  at  a  little  more  than  an  angle  of  twenty- 
four  degrees.  The  beautiful  play  of  colors,  peculiar  to  the 
diamond,  comes  from  its  refractive  and  dispersing  powers. 
It  is  this  blending  and  scattering  of  the  rays  of  light  which 
causes  the  "  fire  "  for  which  the  gem  is  noted,  and  for  which 
it  is  incomparable.  The  perfectly  colorless  specimens  pre- 
sents this  interesting  phenomenon  in  a  much  greater  degree 
than  the  other  varieties.  It  has  been  found  that  these  pris- 
matic colors  are  more  vivid  under  artificial  light  than  they  are 


388  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

under  the  sun's  rays  or  any  other  natural  light.  In  1664 
Robert  Boyle  described  the  phosphorescence,  or  its  property 
of  shining  in  the  dark  after  being  exposed  to  sunlight.  This 
property  is  confined  to  certain  stones,  though  it  is  said  that 
it  may  be  generated  by  steeping  in  hot  water.  Graphite  and 
charcoal  are  the  most  active  conductors,  while  the  diamond, 
composed  of  the  identical  chemical  constituents,  is  a  non- 
conductor of  electricity.  It  acquires  positive  electricity  by 
attrition,  both  when  in  a  natural  and  a  polished  condition,  in 
which  respect  it  differs  from  most  other  precious  stones,  which 
are  negative  if  rough,  and  positive  only  when  polished.  It  is 
impossible  to  dissolve  it,  or,  indeed,  to  affect  it  in  the  slightest 
degree  by  the  strongest  acids  known  to  chemistry.  Before 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  it  was  believed  impossi- 
ble to  destroy  it  by  fire,  but  the  fallacy  of  this  belief  has  since 
been  proven. 

One  great  point  in  favor  of  its  vegetable  origin  is  that  its 
first  cousins,  the  graphite  and  charcoal,  are  known  to  be  the 
result  of  plant  life.  Why,  then,  should  not  the  diamond, 
pure,  crystallized  carbon,  be  also  ?  So  we  find  that  the  chemi- 
cal value  of  the  diamond  is  only  equal  to  pure  charcoal. 
But  its  intrinsic  and  commercial  worth  is  much  greater,  as  an 
ounce  of  the  dust  has  brought  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

The  diamond  is  the  only  gem  that  is  infusible.  It  has  been 
stated  that  after  the  great  conflagration  at  Hamburg  in  1842, 
many  diamonds  that  had  been  defaced  by  exposure  to  the 
heat  were  sold  for  the  merest  trifle,  under  the  supposition 
that  they  were  permanently  injured  by  the  fire.  Upon  being 
repolished  it  was  found  that  their  former  brilliance  and  lustre 
had  returned,  and  they  had  only  lost  slightly  in  weight.  The 
fact  of  the  combustibility  of  the  diamond  was  established  by 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  389 

experiments  at  Vienna  in  1750,  and  others  of  more  recent 
date.  The  old  idea  that  the  diamond  could  not  be  broken 
has  been  also  exploded,  and  it  is  now  known  that  the  gem  is 
very  brittle.  A  fall  on  the  floor  has  been  known  to  seriously 
injure  valuable  specimens.  Its  formation  is  laminar,  as  it 
splits  readily  "with  the  grain,"  thus  causing  it  to  be  easily 
divided  into  any  desired  size  without  the  tedious  process  of 
cutting  and  grinding  by  friction. 

There  are  three  divisions  of  this  gem  into  its  different 
molecular  states.  First,  the  crystals,  the  most  beautiful  and 
perfect  forms  used  in  ornaments.  Second,  the  imperfect 
crystals  called  bort,  which  is  said  to  be  excessively  hard,  far 
surpassing  the  perfect  diamond  in  this  respect.  This  kind  is 
crushed  into  powder  for  polishing  the  more  beautiful  forms. 
Third,  the  uncrystallized  or  amorphous  form.  This  is  a  steel- 
gray,  opaque  mass,  called  carbonado,  which  is  also  used  in 
polishing.  It  is  often  porous,  but  possesses  the  hardness 
requisite  for  polishing. 

Some  gems  have  been  known  to  split  or  burst  from  natural 
causes.  This  is  more  likely  to  happen  with  tinted  specimens, 
especially  those  tinted  with  a  faint  brown,  It  is  reported  that 
specimens  which  were  perfect  upon  being  taken  from  the 
mines  would,  the  next  morning,  be  found  lying  in  fragments 
from  some  cause  which  is  still  a  matter  of  speculation. 

While  the  diamond  now  stands  undisputably  first  among 
gems,  it  has  not  always  been  so  classed  by  all  nations.  The 
ancient  Romans  and  Indians  gave  it  first  place,  but  the  Per- 
sians only  classed  it  as  fifth  in  the  scale,  and  other  nations 
have  given  it  the  third  place.  Its  possession  was  once  claimed 
as  a  royal  privilege,  and  none  but  the  nobility  presumed  to 
appropriate  it  for  ornament.  It  is  supposed  that  the  Phceni- 


390  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

cians  and  Syrians  were  the  first  to  use  it  in  jewelry,  but  they 
did  not  long  lack  imitators,  while  to-day  it  has  become  a  uni- 
versal favorite,  with  its  use  limited  only  by  the  ability  to  pur- 
chase the  gem.  It  was  used  very  profusely  in  the  earlier 
days  by  royalty.  We  are  told  that  among  the  effects  of 
Sultan  Mahmoud  at  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century 
were  more  than  four  hundred  pounds  avoirdupois  of  dia- 
monds. The  value  of  this  gem  to  the  ancient  Romans  and 
the  early  mediaeval  nations  was  not  in  the  intrinsic  beauty,  for 
they  had  not  yet  learned  to  develop  that  beauty  by  polishing, 
but  on  account  of  its  supposed  supernatural  powers.  Being 
believed  to  promote  harmony  in  the  conjugal  relations,  it  was 
at  any  early  period  chosen  as  the  marriage  ring. 

The  value  of  diamonds  is  dependent  upon  their  size,  color, 
and  form  of  crystals.  There  are  twin,  triple,  and  even  quad- 
ruple crystals  that  must  have  joined  at  the  very  instant  of 
solidification.  In  the  rough  they  are  valued  at  half  their 
weight.  The  Mohammedans  say  that  the  gems  are  the  tears 
of  Adam  after  his  expulsion  from  Eden.  In  Europe  large 
diamonds  have  been  considered  the  badge  of  caste,  but  few 
were  imported  into  the  United  States  prior  to  1848, 

The  first  diamonds  were  found  in  India,  and  that  country 
was  long  the  only  place  known  to  have  them.  The  mines  of 
Golconda  are  often  spoken  of.  This  is  an  error,  as  Golconda 
has  no  mine;  there  is  a  fortress  of  that  name  where  the 
gems  are  collected,  cut,  and  polished  in  preparation  for 
market.  In  1727  it  was  discovered  that  diamonds  could  be 
found  in  Brazil,  in  the  province  of  Minas  Geraes.  The  first 
ones  found  were  used  as  playthings  by  the  children,  and  for 
counters  at  cards  by  the  ignorant  negroes.  They  were  found 
in  searching  for  gold.  It  was  for  the  interest  of  the  Indian 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  39! 

trade  that  these  should  be  branded  inferior  to  the  Indian 
gems,  and  for  some  time  they  were  so  considered,  but 
thorough  investigation  fully  established  their  equality.  The 
crops  of  all  fowls  killed  in  Brazil  are  examined  for  the 
diamonds  they  may  possibly  contain,  and  it  is  said  that 
several  quite  valuable  ones  have  been  secured  from  this 
source.  One  man  found  a  stone  of  five  carats  clinging  to 
the  roots  of  a  cabbage  he  had  pulled  for  his  dinner. 

In  1754  a  slave,  who  had  been  transferred  from  the  mines 
of  the  Minas  Geraes  region  to  the  district  of  Bahia,  noticed 
indications  in  the  soil  similar  to  that  in  which  he  had  been 
working,  and  suspecting  the  presence  of  diamonds,  he 
searched  and  found  them  to  be  abundant.  This  great  find 
was  the  means  of  reducing  the  price  about  one-half.  When 
a  slave  finds  a  diamond  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  carats  he 
is  given  his  freedom. 

The  first  authentic  cutting  and  polishing  of  diamonds  is 
credited  to  Louis  van  Berghem,  of  Bruges,  in  1456,  but  the 
knowledge  of  the  art  must  have  long  antedated  this  time,  as 
it  is  known  that  there  are  very  ancient  church  ornaments  in 
existence  which  were  cut  as  four-sided  pyramids.  Emperor 
Charles  also  had  ornaments  of  polished  diamonds.  In  the 
inventory  of  the  effects  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  1360-68,  a 
diamond  was  mentioned,  cut  into  the  form  of  a  shield.  Van 
Berghem  discovered  that  by  continuously  rubbing  two 
diamonds  together  their  surfaces  were  polished  and  facets 
formed.  His  experiments  resulted  in  the  adoption  by  him 
of  diamond  powder  and  the  wheel  for  polishing  purposes. 
It  is,  at  least,  considered  that  if  not  the  original  discoverer 
of  this  beautifying  art,  he  certainly  introduced  many  improve- 
ments by  means  of  the  wheel  and  by  cutting  the  facets  ac- 


392  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

cording  to  mathematical  principles.  By  so  doing  the  art  at 
once  claimed  its  place  among  the  sciences  as  well  as  the  arts. 
Mr.  H.  D.  Morse,  of  Boston,  is  the  inventor  of  a  machine 
for  cutting  and  polishing  gems  to  avoid  the  necessity  for 
American  jewelers  having  their  gems  cut  abroad. 

There  are  various  forms  in  which  precious  stones  are  cut, 
the  commonest  of  which  are  classed  as  table,  brilliant,  rose, 
and  cabochon.  The  translucent  and  opaque  varieties  are 
usually  cut  en  cabochon,  the  garnet  being  the  only  transparent 
stone  which  is  advantageously  cut  en  cabochon  ;  that  is,  having 
no  facets,  or  as  convex,  concave,  double  convex,  or  with  one 
flattened  and  one  convex  surface.  With  the  others  there  is 
a  sacrifice  of  brilliancy  if  so  cut.  The  old  style  of  cutting 
diamonds  several  centuries  ago  was  called  the  table  or  Indian 
cut.  These  were  cut  with  a  square  or  oblong  plane  on  both 
sides,  one  much  smaller  than  the  other.  Later  the  rose 
became  the  prevalent  fashion.  This  consisted  of  a  dome 
above  a  flat  base,  usually  with  a  double  row  of  facets. 
Smaller  stones  can  be  manipulated  by  using  this  form  better 
than  any  other. 

The  one  commonly  in  use  is  a  later  invention,  and  known 
as  the  brilliant,  which  is  described  as  having  the  form  of  two 
cones  joined  at  their  bases,  the  upper  one  being  truncated. 
The  art  of  sawing  diamonds  when  they  were  too  thick  in 
proportion  to  the  required  surface  is  said  to  have  been  in- 
vented by  a  Dutchman  by  the  name  of  Dalbeck  in  the  first 
part  of  this  century.  The  flat,  thin  stones  are  cut  in  the 
table  form. 

The  white  varieties  of  other  stones  are  often  classed  as 
diamonds  by  the  uninitiated,  but  there  are  several  tests  to 
settle  the  question  in  doubt.  One  is  that  the  diamond  is  the 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  393 

only  stone  that  will  scratch  the  sapphire ;  another,  diamond 
alone  will  cut  glass.  Other  gems  will  scratch  it,  but  the 
diamond  will  entirely  separate  its  particles.  Diamonds  are 
sometimes  ground  steadily  for  a  day  without  any  perceptible 
effect  upon  their  surface. 

Among  the  curiosities  belonging  to  Charles  I,  of  England, 
there  was  an  engraved  diamond,  the  rarest  ever  known.  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  sent  by  Henrietta  Maria  to  that 
country  to  buy  ammunition  in  time  of  war.  Its  vicissitudes 
were  numerous,  and  it  is  now  in  Russia,  the  property  of 
Prince  Potemkni. 

The  measure  of  weight  or  carat,  is  equal  to  about  four 
grains.  Its  name  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  u  kirat," 
the  name  of  a  bean,  the  fruit  of  a  tree,  known  as  the  "  kuara," 
which  is  a  native  of  Africa.  "  Kuara "  signifies  "  sun "  in 
the  language  of  that  country,  and  the  name  was  given  to  the 
tree  because  its  flowers  and  fruit  were  flame  colored.  These 
seeds  being  always  of  nearly  uniform  weight,  the.  natives  have 
been  in  the  habit,  from  time  immemorial,  of  using  them  to 
weigh  gold.  These  beans  were  transported  into  India  at  an 
ancient  period,  and  have  been  there  long  used  to  weigh 
diamonds.  The  grains  of  the  jewelers'  carat  are  a  little 
lighter  than  the  Troy  grains. 

There  are  many  exceedingly  valuable  specimens  of  this 
"  king  of  gems,"  and  there  are  also  several  magnificent  claim- 
ants whose  genuineness  is  doubted.  Among  the  latter  is  the 
Braganza,  owned  by  the  government  of  Portugal.  It  has 
never  been  cut,  and  its  weight  has  been  variously  estimated 
from  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  to  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eighty  carats.  As  the  government  seems 
to  be  jealous  of  any  investigations,  it  is  impossible  to  know 


394  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

absolutely  either  its  rank  or  its  worth.  It  is  thought  by  many 
that  this  stone  is  only  a  white  specimen  of  some  other  gem, 
as  the  sapphire,  topaz,  etc. 

A  cablegram  announces  the  finding  on  June  3Oth,  1893,  of 
the  "largest  diamond  in  the  world."  It  was  found  in  the  New 
Jagersfontein  Company's  mine  in  South  Africa.  It  is  said  to 
be  the  most  perfect  stone  found.  Its  weight  is  nine  hundred 
and  seventy-one  carats,  and  its  color  is  a  blue-white.  It  was 
found  by  a  Kaffir,  who  was  working  in  the  mine  shortly  after 
blasting.  He  handed  it  over  to  the  manager  and  received 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  a  horse,  saddle,  and  bridle  for 
it.  The  mine  was  worked  under  contract  with  some  party  to 
take  all  stones  found,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent  at  so  much  a 
carat.  This  contract  expired  the  day  the  large  stone  was 
found,  and  it  was  probably  the  last  one  found  under  it.  The 
form  of  this  magnificent  gem  is  a  sloping  cone,  flattened  on 
two  sides  and  standing  on  an  oval  base,  so  flush  as  almost  to 
appear  to  have  been  cut.  It  is  about  three  inches  high,  and 
its  width  about  two,  while  the  flat  base  measures  nearly  two 
inches  by  one  and  a  quarter.  It  has  been  named  the  "  Jagers- 
fontein Excelsior,"  and  is  now  in  London. 

It  is  thought  that  there  are  not  many  more  than  a  hundred 
large  diamonds  in  the  world — those  weighing  over  thirty 
carats.  The  oldest  of  these  is  the  famous  Koh-i-noor,  or 
"  Mountain  of  Light,"  as  its  name  signifies.  Its  antiquity  is 
traditional,  as  it  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  Godavery 
River,  Southern  India,  four  or  five  thousand  years  ago,  pre- 
vious to  the  great  Indian  war  of  the  Mahabharata.  It  was 
lost  in  this  battle  by  the  chief  who  wore  it,  and,  coming  into 
the  possession  of  the  family  of  the  Rajah  of  Malwar,  became 
the  property  of  his  successors  for  many  generations,  when 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  395 

the  Mohammedan  conquerors  of  India  appropriated  it  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  was  in  the  Imperial 
treasury  at  Delhi,  until  the  Persian  conqueror,  Nadir  Shah, 
carried  it  off  in  1739.  The  wanderings  of  this  gem  from  this 
time  till  it  became  an  occupant  of  the  royal  treasury  of  Wind- 
sor Castle  are  many  and  various. 

Previous  to  the  "  Excelsior,"  above  described,  the  "  Great 
Mogul "  was  the  largest  authentic  diamond  that  had  been 
found.  It  was  discovered  in  1650,  and  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  vizier  of  the  King  of  Golconda.  On  account 
of  the  king's  jealousy,  he  was  obliged  to  flee.  Coming  to 
Aurungzeeb,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Mogul  rulers, 
he  purchased  his  favor  by  the  magnificent  presents  he  gave 
him.  Among  them  was  this  gem,  which  thus  received  its 
name.  Its  weight  when  originally  found  is  said  to  have  been 
nine  hundred  carats,  but  it  has  been  reduced  by  bungling 
artisans  until  it  now  only  weighs  two  hundred  and  eighty 
carats.  It  was  of  the  first  water,  or  perfectly  colorless  stone, 
and  valued  at  one  million  six  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
dollars. 

The  next  largest  stone,  the  Pitt,  or  Regent,  is  now  claimed 
to  be  the  most  conspicuous  gem  in  the  French  crown.  It 
was  found  in  the  mines  at  Puteal,  India,  in  1701,  by  a  slave, 
who  stole  it  and  escaped  with  it  to  the  coast,  where  he  was 
decoyed  on  board  an  English  ship  by  the  captain,  then  robbed 
and  cast  overboard.  This  captain  sold  it  for  five  thousand 
dollars,  and,  becoming  dissipated,  he  eventually  hung  himself. 
Thomas  Pitt,  the  grandfather  of  the  celebrated  William  Pitt, 
bought  the  gem  from  a  Parsee  merchant.  It  was  cut  in  Lon- 
don, as  a  brilliant,  by  hand,  at  a  cost  of  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars.  The  fragments  have  been  estimated  from  seventeen 


396  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

to  forty  thousand  dollars.  The  work  required  two  years.  It 
was  sold  to  the  Regent  of  France,  in  1727,  from  whence 
comes  its  name.  It  is  estimated  to  be  worth  two  million  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  exhibited  at  the  Exposition 
of  1855.  It  is  said  there  are  no  gems  of  more  symmetrical 
form,  transparency,  purity,  and  beauty.  Before  cutting  it 
weighed  four  hundred  and  ten  carats,  but  was  reduced  to  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  carats  by  that  process. 

Another  gem,  contesting  for  this  second  place,  is  the  Or- 
loff.  It  is  absolutely  impossible  to  accurately  trace  its  his- 
tory on  account  of  the  conflicting  tales  of  romance,  intrigue, 
and  crime  concerning  it.  It  is  frequently,  in  these  records, 
confounded  with  both  the  Great  Mogul  and  another  gem, 
called  the  "  Moon  of  the  Mountains,"  which  is  a  Persian 
stone.  All  agree  that  it  is  an  Indian  stone.  It  is  said  to 
have  once  formed  the  eye  of  a  famous  Indian  idol,  stolen  by 
a  French  deserter  and  sold  to  an  English  sea  captain,  from 
whom  it  passed  to  a  Jew,  then  to  a  Greek,  and  in  1772  was 
bought  by  Count  Orloff  for  the  Empress  Catherine  for  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  roubles  and  an  annuity  of  four 
thousand  roubles  and  a  title  of  Russian  nobility.  The  stone 
was  set  in  the  Russian  sceptre  and  weighs  about  one  hundred 
and  ninety-five  carats.  It  is  the  shape  of  half  a  pigeon's 
egg,  and  cut  in  the  rose  form. 

Another  famous  gem  is  the  Great  Sancy.  This  has  well 
been  called  "the  sphinx  among  diamonds,"  on  account  of  the 
conflicting,  bewildering  stories  which  claim  to  be  its  history. 
In  this  matter  it  holds  first  rank.  A  part  of  the  trouble 
seems  to  arise  from  the  fact  that  there  are  three  gems  called 
by  that  name.  These  are :  the  Great  Sancy,  the  Demidoff 
Sancy,  and  the  Little  Sancy.  Charles  the  Bold  was  supposed 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  397 

to  have  been  the  first  possessor  of  this  gem  of  which  any  ac- 
count can  be  found.  He  lost  it  on  the  day  of  his  memorable 
defeat.  The  rest  of  its  history  is  obscure  till  it  is  found  in 
the  hands  of  Nicholas  de  Harlay,  Seigneur  de  Sancy,  Am- 
bassador of  Henry  IV  of  France  to  the  court  of  Elizabeth. 
It  is  said  that  this  is  the  first  diamond  ever  polished. 

It  would  be  impossible  within  the  space  of  this  article  to 
give  an  account  of  all  the  remarkable  diamonds  of  the  world. 
These  "  transparent  images  of  eternal  light "  have  many 
worthy  representatives  whose  histories  are  wonderful  and 
their  beauties  marvelous. 

Red  diamonds  are  very  rare.  There  is  one  among  the 
crown  jewels  of  Russia  which  weighs  but  ten  carats  and  cost 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  Ablue  one,  known  as  the  "  Hope 
Blue,"  was  exhibited  at  London,  in  the  Exposition  of  1851, 
weighing  forty-four  and  one-quarter  carats,  and  estimated  to 
be  worth  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 
Dresden  has  some  fine  yellow  stones,  the  largest  of  which 
only  weighs  twenty-nine  and  one-half  carats.  There  is  also 
a  green  diamond  at  Dresden,  which  is  exceedingly  beautiful. 
It  weighs  forty  and  one-half  carats,  and  is  valued  at  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Messrs.  Tiffany  &  Co.,  of 
New  York,  have  a  mixed  diamond.  Part  of  it  is  black  and 
part  white.  They  have  also  one  which  appears  to  be  brown, 
but  it  gives  out  beautiful,  dark  rose-red  reflections. 

While  the  imitations  of  diamonds  abound,  it  has  thus  far 
been  proven  a  laborious  and  expensive  task  to  manufacture 
genuine  ones.  Experiments  conducted  for  this  purpose  have 
only  resulted  in  the  forming  of  such  small  crystals  as  not  to 
threaten  any  competition  to  the  natural  market.  Just  at 
present  the  London  chemists  are  greatly  interested  in  the 


398  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

attempts  of  one  M.  Moissan.  He  claims  to  have  discovered 
a  process  by  which  he  confidently  expects  to  manufacture  the 
gem  in  marketable  quantities.  He  transforms  graphite  into 
diamond  by  the  infusion  of  purified  sugar.  His  experiments 
will  be  followed  with  great  interest  by  the  scientific  world,  and 
if  he  should  succeed  in  his  attempts,  it  will  be  unfortunate 
for  the  possessors  of  fortunes  in  these  precious  gems.  It  has 
long  been  believed  that  this  great  secret  of  Nature  would  be 
solved,  and  there  have  been  many  laborers  in  this  department 
of  science.  Upon  the  eventual  difficulty  and  expense  of  the 
manufacture  of  these  gems  will  depend  the  degree  to  which 
the  market  will  be  affected. 

SAPPHIRES. 

"  The  azure  light  of  Sapphire's  stone 
Resembles  that  celestial  throne." 

The  sapphire  ranks  next  to  the  diamond  in  hardness,  it  be- 
ing able  to  scratch  every  other  stone.  The  Greeks  consid- 
ered it  sacred  to  Jupiter.  It  is  a  blue,  transparent  variety  of 
corundum, .or  native  alumina.  And  every  one  knows  that 
alumina  is  the  principal  ingredient  in  common  clay.  The  an- 
cients seem  to  have  given  the  name  of  sapphire  to  all  blue 
stones,  or,  rather,  their  term  was  hyacinthus.  This  primitive 
name,  as  well  as  our  modern  one,  refers  to  its  color — azure. 
It  is  supposed  to  have  been  of  Syriac  origin,  and  meant  "  to 
shine,"  as  did  also  the  Arabic  "jacut,"  which  is  thought  to 
have  suggested  the  term  "  huakinthos  "  to  the  Greeks.  Ac- 
cording to  the  ancient  Pefsians,  the  globe  rests  on  a  vast  sap- 
phire, the  reflection  of  which  colors  the  sky.  In  Exodus 
xxiv,  10,  is  written:  "And  they  saw  the  God  of  Israel;  and 
there  was  under  his  feet,  as  it  were,  a  paved  work  of  a  sap- 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  399 

phire  stone,  and,  as  it  were,  the  body  of  heaven  in  his  clear- 
ness." Epiphanes  states  that  the  vision  which  appeared  to 
Moses  on  the  mount  was  in  sapphire,  and  that  the  first  tables 
of  the  law  given  by  God  to  Moses  were  made  of  sapphire. 
The  blue  sapphire  is  an  emblem  of  heaven,  virtue,  truth,  con- 
stancy, heavenly  love,  and  contemplation.  The  clearness  of 
the  sapphire  denotes  hope.  Sylvanus  Morgan  said,  "  The 
sapphire  denotes  prudence,  distinguished  by  their  sex,  viz., 
male  and  female,  whereof  the  bluest  are  thought  to  be  the 
male."  The  wearing  of  it  was  supposed  to  quell  the  animal 
senses.  It  was  also  thought  to  be  a  great  enemy  to  "  black 
cholera,"  and  that  it  would  clear  the  mind  and  mend  the 
manners  of  the  wearer.  It  was  powdered  and  mixed  with 
milk,  and  taken  as  a  remedy  to  cure  boils. 

The  largest  sapphire  known  is  in  the  Mineralogical  Mu- 
seum, at  Paris.  It  weighs  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  carats,  and  was  bought  by  a  French  jeweler  for 
thirty-four  thousand  dollars.  There  is  an  account  of  another 
piece  which  was  dug  out  of  the  alluvium  at  Ratnapoora,  in 
1853,  weight  not  given,  which  was  valued  at  more  than  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  The  sapphire  is  a  very  cold  gem,  on  ac- 
count of  its  density,  and  this  property  gave  rise  to  the  belief 
that  it  would  extinguish  fires.  The  oldest  ecclesiastical  jewel 
extant  is  set  with  a  sapphire,  as,  on  account  of  its  reputed 
ability  to  preserve  the  virtue  of  the  wearer,  it  was  considered 
the  most  appropriate  gem  for  church  uses.  The  sapphire 
has  quite  a  range  of  color,  being  found  in  white,  blue  of  all 
shades,  red,  and,  more  rarely,  gray  or  green.  It  crystallizes 
in  six-sided  prisms,  terminated  in  six-sided  pyramids.  Ceylon 
produces  more  of  these  gems  than  any  other  country,  and 
they  are  noted  for  their  great  beauty  and  size.  They  are 


400  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

also  found  in  Arabia,  and  some  other  parts  of  Asia,  Siberia, 
Bohemia,  Greece,  Saxony,  France,  Switzerland,  Brazil,  and 
the  United  States.  The  Ceylon  mines  have  been  worked  for 
centuries.  The  blue  diamond  is  distinguished  from  the  sap- 
phire by  its  superior  brilliancy,  and  its  ability  to  scratch  the 
latter  gem.  There  are  several  celebrated  sapphires.  One 
belonging  to  the  Saxon  crown,  said  to  have  been  bought  from 
an  Afghan,  and  thought  to  be  the  finest  one  known.  Baroness 
Burdett-Coutts  Bartlett  has  two  magnificent  gems  valued  at 
nearly  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  There  is  one  now 
owned  by  Queen  Victoria,  called  the  Lennox,  or  Darnley 
sapphire,  which  was  set  as  a  heart-shaped  pendant  for 
Margaret  Douglass,  in  1575.  The  ornament  to  which  this 
is  a  pendant  is  a  marvelous  and  complicated  production  of 
great  beauty  and  value,  and  combines  numerous  mottoes 
and  emblems. 

The  sapphire  loses  its  color  by  the  application  of  heat,  but 
it  thus  acquires  a  great  brilliancy,  very  nearly  approaching  the 
diamond,  but  not  quite  so  iridescent.  In  the  British  Museum 
is  to  be  seen  a  small  statue  of  Buddha  cut  from  a  single  sap- 
phire. In  the  Hope  collection  are  several  specimens  which 
exhibit  varying  colors  under  different  kinds  of  light.  The 
most  celebrated  of  the  antique  sapphires  is  said  to  be  the 
signet  ring  of  the  Emperor  Constantinus  II,  which  weighs 
fifty-three  carats,  and  is  in  the  Rinuccini  collection. 

A  sapphire,  once  the  property  of  Edward  the  Confessor, 
which  was  cut  in  the  form  of  a  rose,  is  now  the  centre  of  a 
cross  in  the  crown  of  England.  A  remarkable  specimen  has 
been  reported  which  is  said  to  weigh  nine  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  carats,  of  a  beautiful  blue  tint,  and  without  a  flaw,  belong- 
ing to  the  royal  treasury  of  Ava,  Burmah.  As  these  State 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  4-OI 

jewels  are  jealously  guarded,  there  is  no  vouching  for  this 
statement. 

Sapphires  were  engraved  as  early  as  the  fifth  century. 

Sapphires  as  beautiful  and  as  genuine  as  those  produced 
in  the  laboratory  of  Nature  have  been  manufactured.  Thomas 
J.  Edison,  the  "Wizard  of  Menlo  Park/'  makes  those  he 
uses  in  his  inventions,  and  it  is  said  that  they  are  even 
superior  in  beauty  to  the  natural  gems. 

RUBIES. 

"  They  brought  me  rubies  from  the  mine, 

And  held  them  to  the  sun  ; 
I  said,  '  They  are  drops  of  frozen  wine 
From  Eden's  vats  that  run.'  " 

Rubies  are  the  red  corundum.  If  they  are  perfect  in  color 
and  of  good  size  they  are  worth  ten  times  as  much  as  dia- 
monds. The  finest  Oriental  rubies  come  from  Burmah, 
though  they  are  found  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world. 
Pliny,  under  the  name  of  carbunculus,  classed  several  stones; 
as  the  ruby,  spinel,  and  garnet.  The  King  of  Burmah  is 
called  "Lord  of  the  Rubies,"  on  account  of  the  extensive 
ruby  mines  about  sixty  or  seventy  miles  from  his  capitol. 
Rubies  are  also  found  in  Ceylon,  Siam,  Tartary,  Bohemia, 
France,  and  America,  To  account  for  the  abundance  of  ru- 
bies to  be  found  in  Ceylon,  a  Chinese  work  states  that  the 
origin  of  the  trade  in  that  island  was  coeval  with  the  visit  of 
the  Hindoo  god,  Buddha,  who  sprinkled  the  land  with  sweet 
dew,  which  caused  it  to  produce  red  gems.  The  belief  was 
prevalent  that  impending  evil  was  foretold  by  this  gem  by  its 
turning  darker  or  opaque  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  the 
calamity.  It  was  also  supposed  to  give  the  power  of  seeing 
26 


4<D2  PRECIOUS    STONF.S. 

in  the  dark,  if  hung  around  the  neck,  as  well  as  to  cure  dis- 
eases of  the  eyes,  if  tied  in  a  linen  cloth  over  the  forehead. 
The  Arabs  say:  "  Rubies  purify  the  blood,  quench  thirst,  dis- 
pel melancholy,  avert  danger,  and  insure  honor,  and  that  a 
true  gem  when  put  in  the  fire  becomes  invisible ;  in  water,  it 
o-lows  with  heat,  and  in  the  dark,  shines  like  a  hot  coal."  The 

C3 

Greeks  called  the  ruby  "anthrax,''  or  "  live  coal."  They  be- 
dieved  it  to  give  notice  of  poison,  as  do  all  the  nobler  gems, 
>to  grow  dark  on  approach  of  evil,  banish  sadness,  and  many 
forms  of  vice  and  sin.  Theoprastus  said  :  "  In  the  males,  the 
stars  appear  burning  within  them,  but  the  females  throw  out 
their  brightness." 

Pliny  said :  "  The  males  are  more  acrid  and  vigorous,  the 
females  were  languishing." 

The  finest  rubies,  those  held  in  the  highest  estimation,  are 
of  a  deep  carmine  hue,  a  red  color  known  as  "  pigeon's 
blood."  The  rubies  used  in  the  ancient  jewelry  were 
polished,  but  seldom  faceted,  supposed  to  be  on  account  of 
the  native  lapidaries  disliking  so  strongly  to  waste  any  por- 
tion of  the  precious  material.  Antique  engravings  on  this 
gem  are  very  rare,  and  many  of  these  supposed  to  be  ruby 
are  found  to  be  some  other  form  of  crystals.  There  is  one 
described  by  Chardin,  the  traveler  and  dealer  in  gems,  which 
belonged  to  the  Persian  treasury.  This  was  the  size  of  half 
a  hen's  egg,  and  bore  an  inscription.  It  is  also  said  that  a 
Persian  king  owned  a  pink  ruby  which  was  engraved  with  the 
motto :  "  Riches  are  the  source  of  prosperity."  Rubies  of 
undoubted  genuineness  have  never  been  known  to  exceed 
twenty-four  carats.  Others  much  larger  have  been  reported, 
but  have  generally  been  found  to  be  something  else.  It  is 
probable  that  the  finest  collection  of  rubies  belongs  to  the 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  403 

Russian  treasury.  Tavernier  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  the  throne  of  the  Great  Mogul  was  adorned  with  one 
hundred  and  eight  rubies,  weighing  from  one  hundred  to  two 
hundred  carats  each. 

The  color  of  the  ruby  ranges  from  a  deep  cochineal  to  a 
deep  rose  red,  being  shaded  with  purple  in  some  cases. 

Another  ancient  belief  concerning  the  ruby  was  that  if  it 
was  bruised  in  water  it  would  relieve  infirmities  of  the  eyes 
and  help  disordered  livers.  If  the  four  corners  of  a  house, 
garden,  or  vineyard  were  touched  with  it  they  would  be  pre- 
served from  lightning,  tempest,  and  worms  ;  it  also  dispersed 
infectious  air.  When  worn  it  was  impossible  to  conceal  it,  as 
its  lustre  would  show  beneath  the  thickest  clothes. 

EMERALDS. 

"  The  Emerald  burns  intensely  bright, 
With  radiance  of  an  olive  light ; 
This  is  the  faith  that  highest  shines, 
No  need  of  charity  declines." 

Emeralds  were  supposed  by  the  Orientals  to  have  a  mirac- 
ulous origin.  The  story  runs  thus :  "A  person  was  watch- 
ing a  swarm  of  fire-flies  in  an  Indian  grove  one  moonlight 
night.  After  hovering  for  a  time  in  the  moonbeams,  one  par- 
ticular fire-fly,  more  brilliant  than  the  rest,  alighted  on  the 
grass  and  there  remained.  The  spectator,  struck  by  its  fixity, 
and  approaching  to  ascertain  the  cause,  found,  not  an  insect, 
but  an  emerald,  which  he  appropriated,  and  afterward  wore 
in  a  ring."  It  was  also  believed  that  if  a  snake  or  serpent 
fixed  his  eyes  on  the  lustre  of  an  emerald  he  would  become 
immediately  blind.  The  Shah  of  Persia  is  said  to  have  a 
little  casket  of  gold  blessed  by  Mahommed,  which  is  capable 
of  rendering  him  invisible  as  long  as  he  remains  unmarried. 


404  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

Emeralds  are  supposed  to  have  originally  come  from  Peru, 
being  brought  to  Europe  through  Asia.  The  finest  ones  are 
said  to  be  obtained  in  Muzo,  Colombia,  but  they  are  also 
found  in  Salzburg,  Siberia,  and  India.  They  have  been  found 
in  Norway,  the  Tyrol,  France,  Mexico,  and  North  Carolina 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  said  that  Russia  has  the  finest 
collection  of  emeralds  in  the  world,  one  of  them  being  as 
large  as  an  egg.  De  la  Vega  said  that  the  chief  goddess  of 
Peru  was  an  emerald  as  large  as  an  ostrich's  egg,  which  was 
exhibited  at  great  festivals.  The  people  came  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  to  behold  their  goddess  and  bring  her  gifts  of 
emeralds.  These  gifts  were  called  her  daughters,  and  the 
priests  gave  the  people  to  understand  that  she  delighted  in 
receiving  them.  When  the  Spaniards  conquered  Peru  they 
captured  these  "  daughters "  without  ceremony,  but  the 
"mother"  had  been  so  securely  secreted  that  it  is  said  that 
she  has  not  since  put  in  an  appearance.  Great  quantities 
of  very  valuable  emeralds  were  appropriated  by  Spanish 
brigands  during  their  invasion  of  Mexico.  Some  finally 
found  their  way  to  the  royal  treasury  of  Spain.  Cortez 
took  five  superb  emeralds,  of  exquisite  beauty  and  unique 
design,  from  a  Peruvian  temple  and  presented  them  to  his 
wife. 

The  first  of  these  gems  was  cut  in  the  shape  of  a  rose  with 
its  leaves,  the  second  was  a  toy,  the  third  was  cut  in  the  form 
of  a  bell  with  its  clapper  composed  of  one  large  pear-shaped 
pearl.  It  had  engraved  upon  it  in  Spanish  this  inscription : 
"  Blessed  is  he  who  created  thee."  The  fifth  of  these  won- 
derful gems  was  a  cup,  upon  which  was  engraved  in  Latin : 
"  Among  those  born  of  women,  a  greater  has  not  risen."  An 
offer  of  eighty  thousand  dollars  was  made  for  one  of  these 


i'lU-XIOUS    STONES.  405 

curiosities.  These  gems  are  now  supposed  to  be  lying  buried 
deep  in  sand  off  the  coast  of  the  Barbadoes,  as  they  were 
lost  when  Cortez  was  shipwrecked  in  1529.  Some  authors 
claim  that  the  second  in  this  list  was  a  horn.  He  still  had 
other  valuable  emeralds  left,  among  which  were  two  vases, 
estimated  at  three  hundred  thousand  ducats. 

There  is  said  to  be  a  faultless  gem  weighing  three  hundred 
carats  in  the  rich  collection  at  Constantinople.  It  is  set  in 
the  handle  of  a  poniard.  There  was  one  found  in  the  Tem- 
ple of  the  Sun,  in  Peru,  which  was  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg. 
There  is  in  the  royal  treasury  of  Persia  an  emerald  the  size 
of  a  walnut,  upon  which  is  engraved  the  names  of  the  kingly 
owners,  as  it  passed  through  their  hands  from  time  to  time. 
The  famous  emerald  mines  of  Mount  Zebarah — "  Mountain 
of  Emeralds  " — between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  Egypt, 
are  supposed  to  have  not  been  explored  since  the  time  of  the 
Ptolemies  until  their  rediscovery  by  a  M.  Caillaud.  He  found 
everything  as  it  had  been  left  by  the  miners  centuries  ago. 
Their  appliances  and  tools  were  left  carelessly  about  as 
though  work  would  be  resumed  in  the  morning.  There  were 
some  forty  excavations  carried  to  a  depth  of  eight  hundred 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  four  hundred  men 
could  work  in  them.  The  Arabs  believed  that  these  caves 
had  been  taken  possession  of  by  wild  beasts  and  demons  who 
would  kill  any  intruder.  The  night  before  an  entrance  was 
effected  they  spent  the  entire  night  in  firing  guns  to  drive 
away  these  evil  spirits. 

Peru  supplied  the  European  markets  till  the  discovery  of 
the  New  Grenada  mines.  The  gems  found  in  these  mines 
are  considered  the  finest  ever  mined. 

It  is  said  that  Ireland  is  called  the  "  Emerald  Isle"  on 


406  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

account  of  a  ring  set  with  an  emerald,  sent  to  Henry  II  of 
England,  by  Pope  Adrian  as  the  instrument  of  his  investure 
with  the  dominion  of  that  island.  This  ring,  however,  is  not 
to  be  found. 

The  emerald  is  a  gem  of  great  antiquity.  In  a  poem 
written  by  Orpheus,  400  B.  C.,  the  supernatural  powers  of 
this  precious  stone  is  alluded  to.  They  abound  in  antique 
and  Roman  jewelry  in  the  shape  of  slices  of  native  prisms, 
in  beads,  and  very  rarely  for  intaglios.  They  were  seldom 
engraved  on  account  of  their  brittleness  and  objection 
to  waste. 

THE    TOPAZ. 

From  the  Greek  intagli  which  have  come  down  to  us,  it  is 
known  that  this  gem  was  known  to  the  ancients  at  a  very 
early  period.  It  is  supposed  that  the  name  comes  from  an 
island  in  the  Red  Sea,  known  to  the  early  nations  as  Topazos, 
where  the  gem  was  found.  It  is  diffused  over  the  world,  be- 
ing found  in  India,  Siberia,  Australia,  Saxony,  Austria,  Brazil, 
Mexico,  and  several  of  the  United  States.  It  is  found  in  a 
variety  of  colors,  as  saffron-yellow,  wine-color,  pale  violet, 
sea-green,  blue,  gold,  ruby,  rose,  sapphire-blue,  and  light 
blues.  Its  colors  will  fade  in  the  light.  It  is  seldom  found 
in  very  large  crystals  without  flaws.  In  Saxony,  massive 
rocks  are  formed  of  it.  The  pure  white  topaz  is  often  sold 
for  diamond,  which  is  easily  done  on  account  of  its  brilliancy. 
In  the  early  times  it  was  supposed  that  this  gem  had  a  gift  of 
inner  radiance  that  could  dispel  darkness,  like  the  carbuncle. 
Set  in  gold  and  worn  around  the  neck  or  left  arm,  it  was  a 
charm  against  all  sorcery  and  magic,  and  it  also  could  dispel 
nightmare,  banish  melancholy,  cure  cowardice,  calm  anger 
and  madness,  and  brighten  the  wit. 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  407 

OPALS. 

Pliny  thus  describes  the  opal :  "  Of  all  precious  stones,  it 
is  opal  that  presents  the  greatest  difficulty  of  description,  it 
displaying  at  once  the  piercing  fire  of  the  carbunculus,  the 
purple  brilliancy  of  amethyst,  and  the  sea-green  of  smarag- 
dus  (emerald) — the  whole  blended  together  and  refulgent 
with  a  brightness  that  is  quite  incredible."  The  opal  has 
well  been  said  to  hold  within  its  magical  influence  all  the 
gems  it  seems  to  embody,  and  is  a  natural  prism.  The  name 
is  derived  from  a  Greek  word  meaning  "  eye,"  hence,  it  was 
believed  to  strengthen  the  sight,  The  Turks  esteemed  this 
gem  as  highly  as  the  diamond.  Large  opals  are  exceedingly 
rare.  The  groundless  stories  founded  on  the  legend  of  Rob- 
ert the  Devil  have  discouraged  its  use,  as  it  is  accused  of 
bringing  ill-luck  to  its  wearer.  The  opal  has  thus  far  defied 
satisfactory  imitation. 

It  is  hydrated  silica,  and  differs  from  quartz  in  containing 
from  five  to  fifteen  per  cent,  of  water.  The  beautiful  play  of 
colors  which  it  exhibits  is  owing  to  numerous  fissures,  which 
refract  the  light.  It  never  crystallizes,  and  is  always  cut  en 
cabochon,  and  not  with  facets.  It  has  been  known  to  split 
by  holding  a  ring  in  which  it  was  set  too  near  the  fire  in  frosty 
weather.  There  are  several  varieties — as  the  fire  opal,  jas- 
per opal,  wood  opal,  etc.  The  fire  opal  is  found  in  Mexico, 
Hungary,  and  the  Faroe  Islands.  It  is  remarkable  for  its 
flame-like  reflections,  of  hyacinthine  reel,  shading  to  honey 
yellow,  and  often  showing  prismatic  colors.  Vegetable  pro- 
ducts and  trees  are  sometimes  petrified  into  opal — hence, 
called  wood  opal.  These  do  not  display  the  prismatic  hues 
of  the  true  opal.  The  jasper  opal  retains  the  lustre  of  the 


408  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

opal,  but  has  the  color  of  yellow  jasper.  The  Romans  se- 
cured their  opals  from  the  East,  probably  Ceylon,  but  the 
largest  one  known  by  them  was  not  larger  than  the  half  of  a 
hazel  nut.  There  was  one  exception.  Nonius,  a  Roman 
senator,  was  the  possessor  of  one  of  the  full  size  of  a  hazel 
nut,  and  because  he  would  not  surrender  it  to  Marc  Antony, 
on  demand,  for  what  that  worthy  considered  an  equivalent, 
he  was  exiled.  It  is  said  eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  was  offered  for  it.  The  ancients  are  said  to  have  un- 
derstood how  to  successfully  counterfeit  the  opal,  but  the  art 
has  died  with  them.  The  most  celebrated  modern  mines  are 
those  qf  Hungary,  Honduras,  and  Mexico.  When  first  taken 
from  the  mine  it  is  stated  that  the  opal  is  transparent  and 
colorless,  but  after  being  exposed  to  the  light  and  heat  it 
lessens  in  size  and  soon  shows  its  natural  iridescence,  grow- 
ing gradually  more  and  more  beautiful  till  the  excess  of  mois- 
ture is  driven  off.  The  violet  tint  is  first  seen,  then  the 
others.  The  sunlight  is  the  best  colorer  of  the  gem.  The 
most  notable  opal  of  modern  times  was  the  one  belonging  to 
the  Empress  Josephine.  It  was  called  the  "Burning  of 
Troy,"  on  account  of  the  long  flame-like  emanations  which 
shot  forth  from  it. 

The  ancients  believed  it  brought  good-will  to  the  wearer. 
Albertus  Magnus  said  :  "  If  you  wish  to  become  invisible, 
take  an  opal  and  wrap  it  in  a  bay  leaf,  and  it  is  of  such  na- 
ture that  it  will  make  the  by-standers  blind — hence,  it  has 
been  called  "  the  patron  of  thieves." 

AMETHYSTS. 

The  origin  of  this  precious  stone  is  thus  chronicled :  "  A 
beautiful  nymph,  beloved  of  Bacchus,  was  changed  into  the 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  409 

amethyst,  which  represented  the  color  of  the  god's  favorite 
beverage.  It  is  only  a  quartz,  beautifully  colored.  Its  name 
comes  from  a  Greek  word  meaning  "  unintoxicated."  It  was 
in  great  demand  by  the  Greek  and  Roman  topers,  on  account 
of  the  belief  that  it  had  the  power  of  preventing  the  evil 
consequences  of  their  dissipation,  made  them  vigilant  and  ex- 
pert in  business,  expelled  poison,  gave  victory  to  soldiers, 
and  secured  easy  capture  of  wild  beasts  and  birds.  The 
Peruvians  believed  that  if  the  names  of  the  sun  and  moon 
were  engraved  upon  it,  and  it  was  hung  around  the  neck 
with  the  hair  of  a  baboon,  or  the  feather  of  a  swallow,  it  was 
a  charm  against  witchcraft.  The  best  amethysts  come  from 
India,  Persia,  and  Siberia,  but  they  are  found  in  Switzerland, 
Hungary,  Brazil,  and  the  United  States.  They  are  worth 
about  five  dollars  a  carat.  They  lose  their  color  by  the  ap- 
plication of  heat.  It  is  most  probably  the  easiest  to  imitate 
of  any  of  the  gems.  It  was  thought  that  this  gem  was  the 
best  for  ecclesiastical  purposes. 

THE    TURQUOISE. 

The  turquoise  is  a  blue  or  bluish-green  mineral.  The  first 
was  found  in  Persia,  and  was  brought  to  Western  Europe  by 
way  of  Turkey ;  hence,  its  name,  turkis  stone,  or  as  the 
French  have  it,  "  turquoise."  Large  pieces  are  exceedingly 
rare.  It  is  never  crystallized,  but  is  found  as  stalactitic 
masses,  veins,  nodules,  and  incrustations.  Most  specimens 
are  liable  to  fade  or  turn  green  with  age,  though  many  of  the 
oldest  specimens  known  have  still  retained  their  beautiful 
blue  tint  which  is  so  highly  prized.  It  is  the  stone  which  was 
most  commonly  used  for  amulets,  because  of  its  mystical 
powers.  The  Syrian  turquoise  is  found  principally  in  low, 


41 0  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

boggy  earth.  The  ancients  attribute  to  it  the  power  to  heal 
marital  misunderstandings.  It  is  also  said  to  change  in  color 
and  lustre  according  to  the  degree  of  health  its  wearer 
possesses,  and  thus  to  foretell  coming  sickness  or  death. 
Turquoise  was  first  mentioned  by  an  Arab  in  the  twelfth 
century.  It  is  the  symbol  of  sincerity  and  fidelity.  The  best 
specimens  are  in  the  Persian  and  Russian  crowns,  and  at 
Moscow  there  is  a  throne  covered  with  more  than  two  thou- 
sand of  these  gems.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  they  are 
to  be  found  in  Russia.  This  has  arisen  from  the  fact  that 
they  are  polished  and  sold  at  Moscow  by  both  Persian  and 
Turkish  merchants.  The  turquoise  can  be  imitated. 

PEARLS. 

"  Its  use  and  rate  values  the  gem, 
Pearls  in  their  shells  have  no  esteem." 

Although,  properly  speaking,  pearls  cannot  be  called  pre- 
cious stories,  as  they  have  the  same  value  and  use,  we  cannot 
forbear  speaking  of  them  in  this  connection.  The  pearl  has 
been  considered,  from  time  immemorial,  as  one  of  the  loveli- 
est gems  that  ever  graced  an  ornament,  and  no  labor  or  ex- 
pense have  been  spared  in  the  search  for  it.  These  gems 
are  simply  concretions  of  calcareous  matter  combined  with 
the  gelatinous  substance  secreted  by  the  pearl  oysters. 

For  centuries  pearls  formed  an  important  item  in  the 
natural  productions  of  Ceylon.  The  earliest  native  record 
of  fishing  for  them  is  306  B.  C.,  and  these  oyster  beds  still 
continue  to  yield  the  gems.  Suetonius  says  that  twenty  cen- 
turies ago  the  Romans  procured  pearls  from  Great  Britain. 
The  common  Oriental  belief  concerning  the  origin  of  the 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  411 

gems  is  that  they  are  "  rain  from  the  sky,  which  turns  into 
pearls  as  it  falls  into  the  sea."  Pliny  says  the  oysters  pro- 
duce them  by  feeding  on  heavenly  dew.  The  oysters  are 
dived  for  in  from  four  to  twelve  fathoms  of  water.  The  pre- 
sent fishing  ground  of  Ceylon  is  off  the  west  coast  of  the 
island.  The  season  begins  in  February  of  each  year.  Aripo 
is  an  old  established  fishing  g'round,  having  been  used  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  Pearls  are  now  found  off  Borneo,  Aus- 
tralia, Central  America,  some  of  the  Pacific  Islands,  and  in 
the  Gulf  of  California.  The  divers  protect  themselves  from 
the  sharks,  those  "  tigers  of  the  sea,"  by  the  use  of  charms. 
They  will  usually  descend  from  forty  to  fifty  times  a  day, 
bringing  up  from  two  thousand  to  three  thousand  oysters. 
The  most  favorable  time  for  fishing  is  soon  after  sunrise. 

^> 

The  diver  generally  claims  one-fourth  of  the  catch.  The 
finest  pearls  are  found  in  shells  that  are  four  or  five  years 
old.  If  young  shells  are  brought  to  the  surface  they  are  re- 
turned to  the  water.  The  pearl  oyster  proper  is  twice  as 
large  as  the  Shrewsbury.  Pearls  are  weighed  by  the  grain 
instead  of  carat. 

Pompey  is  said  to  have  introduced  the  fashion  for  pearls 
into  Europe.  A  cart  was  required  to  carry  away  the  pearls 
which  he  took  from  Mithridates.  Caesar  gave  away  a  pearl 
worth  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  to  Servilia,  the  mother 
of  Brutus.  Caligula  had.  a  pearl  collar  made  for  a  favorite 
horse.  The  most  famous  pearl,  the  beautiful  Peregrina,  was 
found  by  a  little  negro  boy  in  1560.  He  obtained  his  liberty 
by  opening  the  oyster.  This  bivalve  was  such  a  small  one 
that  he  was  about  to  throw  it  back  into  the  sea  in  disgust, 
but  on  second  thought  he  opened  it  and  secured  the  magnifi- 
cent gem.  It  is  of  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg  and  pear- 


,412  PRECIOUS    STONES. 

shaped.  It  was  presented  by  the  little  negro's  master  to 
Philip  II,  and  is  still  in  Spain.  No  sum  has  been  set  upon  it, 
so  it  is  virtually  priceless.  An  offer  of  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  has  been  scouted.  The  single  pearl  which 
Cleopatra  is  supposed  to  have  dissolved  and  swallowed 
had  a  value  of  four  hundred  and  three  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-four  dollars.  This  story  is  considered  by  many  as 
apochryphal,  because  any  acid  which  would  quickly  dissolve 
a  pearl  would  do  the  same  for  the  stomach  of  the  drinker. 

The  largest  pearl  ever  found  in  America  is  the  Queen.  It 
was  discovered  in  the  Notch  Brook  near  Paterson,  N.  J.  It 
was  bought  by  Messrs.  Tiffany  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  who 
sold  it  to  the  Empress  Eugenie  for  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  It  was  found  in  1857.  Pearls  have  also  been 
found  near  Milford,  Conn.,  and  in  the  Little  Miami  River, 
Ohio. 

Perfect  pearls  of  the  size  of  walnuts  are  called  "para- 
gons," when  they  are  of  the  size  of  a  small  cherry  they  are 
known  as  "diadems."  Pearls  are  also  found  in  the  rivers  of 
Scotland,  and  a  merchant  of  Edinburgh,  Unger  by  name,  has 
a  necklace  of  these  Scotch  gems,  valued  at  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  They  range  from  twenty- 
five  to  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  each. 

Fora  pearl  to  rank  as  "first  quality"  it  must  be  irides- 
cent, a  pure  white  in  color  or  of  a  delicate  azure  tint,  and 
have  a  bright  lustre.  Those  having  a  yellow  tinge  are  con- 
sidered as  of  inferior  quality.  When  cut  across  pearls  are 
found  to  be  formed  in  concentric  layers  like  an  onion.  The 
perfect  sphere  is  the  form  which  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem, 
though  misshapen  pearls  are  often  very  valuable  on  account 
of  their  excellent  quality  or  unique  shapes.  These  freaks  of 


PRECIOUS    STONES.  413 

nature  are  called  "baroques."     The  smallest  sizes  of  pearls 
are  called  "  seed  pearls." 

In  former  times  powdered  pearls  were  considered  invalu- 
able for  stomach  complaints.  The  pearl  is  the  symbol  of 
modesty.  . 


TUNNELS. 

UNNELS  are  mainly  divided  into  two  classes:  natural 

and  artificial.     Of  the  first  class  there  are  many  and 

1       varied  examples,  notably,   Mammoth   Cave,  in   Ken- 

tucky,  U.   S.,  and  Fingal's  Cave,  off  the  southwest 

coast  of  Scotland. 

NATURAL  TUNNELS. 

Caves  have  been  used  from  pre-historic  times  as  places  of 
abode,  refuge,  and  sepulchre.  Around  them  have  also 
clustered  many  legends  of  myths  and  superstition.  They 
were  formerly  considered  the  abodes  of  the  gods,  sibyls,  and 
oracles.  In  the  Roman  mythology  they  were  the  homes  of 
the  nymphs  ;  in  the  Grecian,  they  were  used  as  the  temples  of 
their  divinities,  Pan,  Bacchus,  Pluto,  etc.,  and  from  them  were 
delivered  the  oracles  at  Delphi  and  other  places.  In  Persia, 
they  were  used  in  the  worship  of  their  sun-god,  Mithras. 
This  god,  by  origin,  was  "  the  god  of  the  bright  heaven 
and  day,  closely  related  in  conception  to,  and  yet  expressly 
distinguished  from  the  sun."  He  was  associated  with  the 
god,  Varuna,  and  as  a  pair  they  denoted  the  heaven  of  day 
and  the  heaven  of  night.  Their  seventh  month  bore  his 
name,  and  the  sixteenth  day  of  each  month  was  sacred  to 
his  worship,  when  prayers  were  offered  to  him  three  times  a 
day,  morning,  noon,  and  night.  Upon  the  conquest  of  Assy- 
414 


TUNNELS.  415 

ria  and  Babylonia,  the  Persian  religion  was  greatly  modified 
by  these  more  cultured  races.  Mithras  then  became  identi- 
fied with  the  sun,  and  there  was  instituted  for  his  worship  an 
elaborate,  mysterious  ritual.  The  famous  rest  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers,  of  Ephesus,  was  taken  in  a  cave.  The  Moorish 
children  yet  believe  that  the  hills  of  Granada  hold  the  great 
Boabdil  and  his  sleeping  hosts,  who  will  be  awakened  to  re- 
store the  Moorish  magnificence  of  Spain,  when  some  adven- 
turous mortal  shall  invade  their  territory.  Numerous  in- 
stances are  given  in  the  Bible  of  the  use  of  caves  in  the 
human  economy,  and  need  not  be  cited  here. 

The  excavation  of  the  natural  tunnels  of  the  earth,  in  a 
majority  of  cases,  is  obviously  due  to  the  erosive  power  of 
water,  usually  in  the  form  of  rivers,  though  the  incessant 
swash  of  the  sea  breakers,  with  the  steady  grinding  of  tli<; 
shingle,  is  also  sure  to  find  the  weak  spot  or  vein  in  the  rock 
they  so  continuously  bombard.  The  caves  of  volcanic  regions 
are  sometimes  due  to  the  expansion  of  the  steam  and  gases 
incarcerated  by  the  falling,  flowing,  molten  mass  of  lava. 

Caves  are  mostly  found  in  the  limestones  of  the  Devonian, 
Carboniferous,  and  other  ages.  Their  formation  is  due  to 
the  disintegrating  influence  of  the  carbonic  acid  contained  in 
the  water,  together  with  the  attrition  of  the  detached  debris 
carried  onward  by  the  force  of  the  water.  They  are  to  be 
found  principally  in  the  limestone  formations  of  the  different 
ages  and  periods.  They  are  found  at  various  levels,  and 
where  the  strata  are  compact  enough  to  sustain  a  roof.  They 
also  occur  in  gypsum  rocks. 

Caves  originating  from  the  action  of  carbonic  acid  and 
water  have  their  own  peculiar  characteristics.  "They  open 
on  the  abrupt  sides  of  valleys  and  ravines  at  various  levels, 


41 6  TUNNELS. 

and  are  arranged  round  the  main  axes  of  erosion,  just  as  the 
branches  are  arranged  round  the  trunk  of  a  tree.  In  a  great 
many  cases  the  relation  of  the  valley  to  the  ravine,  and  of 
the  ravine  to  the  cave  is  so  intimate  that  it  is  impossible  to 
deny  that  all  three  have  been  produced  by  the  same  causes. 
The  caves  themselves  ramify  in  the  same  irregular  fashion  as 
the  valleys,  and  are  to  be  viewed  merely  as  the  capillaries  in 
the  general  valley  system  through  which  the  rain  passes  to 
join  the  main  channels."  Instances  are  not  uncommon  where 
the  streams  are  still  flowing  in  their  subterranean  beds. 
Caves  are  still  in  all  stages  of  production,  from  the  simple 
funnel-shaped  depression,  called  "  pot-holes,"  to  the  stupend- 
ous cavern,  whose  area  is  still  expanding  by  the  agencies  at 
work  upon  it.  Many  ravines  were  once  caves,  but  have 
become  unroofed  through  the  degradation  of  the  arching  rock, 

o  o  o 

which  lies  often  throughout  their  entire  length  in  masses  of 
gigantic  and  varying  proportions. 

Stalactites  and  stalagmites  usually  abound  in  caves.  These 
forms,  as  well  as  the  more  beautiful  ones  of  efflorescence, 
are  made  by  the  deposition  of  the  insoluble  carbonate  of 
lime  left  by  the  water  which  percolates  through  the  rock  and 
crystallizes  in  unique  and  often  fantastic  designs.  Columns, 
another  form  of  cave  decorations,  are  formed  by  the  junction 
of  the  stalactites  with  opposite  stalagmites,  where  a  continu- 
ous trickle  of  water  acts  for  a  long  time.  The  beauty  of  the 
caves  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  presence  and  number  of 
these  columns. 

Caves  which  have  been  used  as  the  residence  of  man  and 
the  lairs  of  wild  beasts  are  classified  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  remains  found  in  them.  Those  having  the  remains  of 
animals  now  extinct,  as  the  mammoth,  woolly  rhinoceros  or 


TUNNELS. 

Paleolithic  man,  are  known  as  Pleistocene  caves.  The  ones 
which  contain  the  remains  of  man  in  connection  with  those 
of  the  domestic  animals,  either  in  the  Neolithic,  Bronze,  or 
Iron  ages  are  called  Pre-historic.  There  are  still  others  of 
which  we  have  the  history,  and  they  are,  therefore,  named 
Historic  caves. 

The  quest  for  fossil  bones,  so  highly  esteemed  for  medicine 
in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  led  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  bone  caves  of  the  Hartz  Mountain  and  other 
regions.  These  bones  were  those  of  the  bear,  hyena,  lion,, 
wolf,  and  fox,  together  with  those  of  the  reindeer,  horse,  andl 
bison.  Flint,  stone,  and  bone  implements  are  also  found  im 
the  caves,  giving  clues  as  to  the  men  who  occupied  them. 

The  pre-historic  caves  are  distinguished  from  the  others  by 
their  containing  the  bones  of  domestic  animals,  and  the  bones 
of  wild  animals  found  in  them  are  those  belonging  to  living 
species. 

America  has  the  honor  of  having  the  noblest  specimen  of 
caves  in  the  world.  It  is  located  in  Edmonson  County,  Ky.,, 
some  eighty-five  miles  southwest  of  Louisville.  Its  dis- 
coverer was  a  hunter  by  the  name  of  Hutchings  in  1809,. 
who  was  following  the  trail  of  a  wounded  bear.  The  mouth' 
of  this  great  cave  is  in  a  forest  ravine,  six  hundred  feet  above 
sea  level  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet  above  the 
Green  River.  The  cavernous  limestone  in  which  it  was 
found  extends  over  an  area  of  eight  thousand  square  milesr 
and  is  of  the  Sub-carboniferous  period.  In  this  extent  of  sur- 
face there  are  numerous  other  caves  vying  with  the  Mam- 
moth in  beauty  but  not  in  size. 

The  temperature  of  this  cave  is  uniformly  fifty-four  degrees 
Fahrenheit  throughout  the  entire   year.       During   summer 
27 


41 8  TUNNELS. 

there  is  a  strong  wind  issuing  from  the  mouth  of  the  cave, 
and  in  the  opposite  direction  during  the  winter.  The  atmos- 
phere is  noted  for  its  singular  purity,  and  on  account  of  its 
dryness  has  been  considered  beneficial  for  consumptives,  but 
the  experiments  tried  were  not  satisfactory  on  account  of  the 
absence  of  natural  light.  There  are  numerous  ramifications 
to  this  cave  which  have  been  made  the  lines  of  various  excur- 
sions. Of  these  there  are  two  principal  ones,  called  the  long 
route  and  the  short  route.  The  former  extends  a  distance 
of  about  eighteen  miles,  and  the  latter  about  half  that  length. 
This  cave  gives  evidence  of  its  pre-historic  occupancy  by  the 
bits  of  half-burned  cane  torches  and  other  signs.  While  the 
diameter  of  the  entire  cavern  is  less  than  ten  miles,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  the  aggregate  of  all  accessible  avenues  equals 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Pits  and  domes  abound, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  gypsum  crystal  efflorescence  is  well 
known.  This  is  not  generally  distributed  throughout  the 
entire  cave,  but  confined  to  certain  rooms.  In  the  rainy 
season  the  vast  volumes  of  water  which  enter  through  the 
numerous  domes  and  pits  collect  in  a  room,  known  as  River 
Hall.  Here  they  form  several  large  bodies  of  water,  having 
connection  by  springs  with  Green  River.  In  times  of  freshets 
in  the  Green  River  the  streams  of  the  cave  have  been  known 
to  rise  sixty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  low-water  mark. 
These  streams  are  only  navigable  from  May  to  October  of  each 
year.  They  are  severally  called  the  "  Dead  Sea,"  "  River 
Styx,"  "Lake  Lethe,"  and  "Echo  River,"  which  is  the 
largest  of  all.  There  are  fishes  in  these  waters,  but,  of 
course,  they  are  eyeless,  for  of  what  use  could  eyes  be  in 
perpetual  darkness  ? 

It  would  be  an  idle  task  to  attempt  a  complete  description 


TUNNELS.  419 

of  the  many  and  varied  rooms  and  avenues  of  this  monstrous 
tunnel.  The  literature  of  the  cave  is  abundant  and  well  re- 
pays the  reading. 

Fingal's  Cave,  on  the  island  of  Staffa,  off  the  southwest 
coast  of  Scotland,  is  worthy  of  special  mention,  as  it  is  a 
large  excavation  in  columnar  basalt ;  the  same  formation  as 
the  Giant's  Causeway.  This  is  the  most  remarkable  cave  in 
Europe. 

ARTIFICIAL    TUNNELS. 

The  human  animal  is  not  content  with  the  conquest  of  the 
surface  of  the  earth  for  his  benefit,  but  yearns  for  the  control 
of  the  realms  above  and  the  dominion  of  the  regions  beneath. 
This  is  evidenced  in  the  numerous  attempts  at  aerial  naviga- 
tion, and  the  many  uses  to  which  tunnels  have  been  put  dur- 
ing the  history  of  the  world.  Enterprise,  science,  ingenuity, 
and  determination  have  broken  down  every  barrier  to  human 
progress.  Having  subjugated  the  outside  of  the  earth,  man 
does  not  hesitate  to  make  its  interior  tributary  to  his  necessi- 
ties and  requirements.  The  tunnels  of  the  world  may  well 
be  classed  among  the  "  imperial  works  of  man,"  even  in  these 
days  which  are  so  prolific  in  the  achievements  and  triumphs 
of  engineering  skill.  How  true  it  is  that  this  is  a  tunnelling 
age. 

Tunnels  are  by  no  means  a  modern  invention.  Herodo- 
tus speaks  of  one,  in  the.  island  of  Samos,  cut  through  a 
mountain  nine  hundred  feet  high.  This  tunnel  was  eight  by 
fifteen  feet,  and  measured  four  thousand  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet  in  length.  In  Bceotia,  Lake  Copais  was 
drained  by  a  tunnel.  Caesar  found  that  Alexandria  was 
almost  undermined  by  the  numerous  aqueducts  through 
which  water  was  carried  from  the  Nile  to  the  houses  of  that 


420  TUNNELS. 

city.  The  ancient  Romans,  Peruvians,  and  Mexicans  had  re- 
markable tunnelled  aqueducts.  According  to  Livy,  a  tunnel 
was  begun  in  398  B.  C.,  at  the  instance  of  the  Delphan  oracle, 
to  tap  Lake  Albanus.  Fifty  shafts  were  sunk,  and  it  was 
completed  within  a  year  from  the  time  of  its  commencement. 
It  was  six  thousand  feet  long,  with  an  orifice  of  six  by  three 
and  a  half  feet.  It  was  excavated  through  the  hardest  lava. 
The  instruments  used  by  the  ancients  were  very  crude,  and 
the  wonders  they  accomplished  with  them  are  truly  marvel- 
ous. There  was  a  tunnel  under  the  Euphrates,  at  Babylon, 
in  the  time  of  Semiramis.  This  was  constructed  to  connect 
the  royal  palace,  which  was  on  one  side  of  the  river  with  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Belos  on  the  other  side.  There  were  two 
channels  of  communication  between  these  two  edifices,  and 
both  were  stupendous  works  of  art.  One  of  them  was  a 
bridge  supported  by  strong  piers ;  the  other,  an  arched 
tunnel,  lined  with  brick,  and  it  was  twelve  feet  high  by  fifteen 
feet  wide. 

In  the  matter  of  tunnelling,  Egypt  led  the  world  by  many 
centuries.  There  were  extensive  tunnels  opposite  the  Pyra- 
mids, which  were  used  as  quarries.  Wherever  the  Romans 
conquered,  there  are  found  remains  of  tunnels  for  various 
purposes ;  as,  drains,  roads,  water  supply,  etc.  Passing  no- 
tice must  be  taken  of  the  famous  excavation,  the  Cloaca 
Maxima,  of  ancient  Rome,  by  which  the  sewage  of  that  city 
was  drained  into  the  Tiber.  The  ground  was  so  honeycombed 
by  it  and  its  tributaries  that  Pliny  speaks  of  it  as  a  city  sus- 
pended in  the  air,  rather  than  resting  upon  the  earth.  He 
says  this  stupendous  drain  was  constructed  by  Tarquinius 
Superbus,  though  others  from  around  the  Forum  and  other 
valleys  were  commenced  by  Tarquinius  Priscus.  The  an- 


TUNNELS.  42 1 

tiquity  of  the  structure  .s  evidenced  by  the  stone  of  wnich  it 
is  built,  as  it  is  the  same  species  that  was  used  in  the  most 
ancient  masonry.  Its  termination  at  the  Tiber  is  still  visible. 
There  are  three  arches,  one  within  the  other,  built  of  large 
blocks  of  stone.  The  innermost  of  these  arches  is  more 
than  thirteen  feet  in  height.  These  large  blocks  of  stone 
are  joined  together  without  cement.  There  are  also  similar 
drains  in  other  Roman  cities,  but  they  do  not  approach  the 
dimensions  of  this  gigantic  affair. 

On  the  line  of  the  Mersina  Railway,  in  Asia  Minor,  there 
is  a  river  which  flows  through  a  natural  tunnel.  At  only  a 
little  distance  from  this  point,  there  is  another  river  flowing 
through  an  artificial  tunnel,  twenty  feet  wide  by  twenty-three 
feet  high,  which  was  cut  upwards  of  sixteen  hundred  years 
ago,  through  rock  of  such  density  that  the  tool-marks  are 
still  visible,  not  being  worn  away  by  the  action  of  the  water 
during  all  these  centuries. 

It  is  thought  that  the  Romans  learned  tunnelling  from 
the  Etruscans.  It  is  certainly  an  index  of  civilization,  as 
it  has  flourished  and  waned  with  the  rise  or  decadence  of 
nations. 

Instances  of  modern  tunnelling  are  so  common  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  give  here  a  detailed  account  of  them 
all,  or  even  to  mention  them  all.  As  adjuncts  to  railroading 
alone,  there  are  several  thousands  of  tunnels  in  service 
throughout  the  world. 

The  primitive  method  of  tunnelling,  before  the  invention 
of  drilling  machinery  and  other  modern  appliances,  was  by 
building  fires  against  the  rock  to  be  excavated.  When  thor- 
oughly heated,  water  was  dashed  against  the  hot  surface, 
causing  it  to  seam  and  crack,  when  it  would  be  picked  or 


422  TUNNELS. 

beaten  off  and  removed  from  the  cavity.  The  modern  way 
of  driving  tunnels  is  to  sink  shafts  and  bore  in  opposite 
directions  until  the  excavations  from  each  end  are  joined. 
This  plan  is  not  always  feasible,  as  in  the  case  of  what  is 
known  as  the  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel,  through  the  Alps.  Here, 
as  well  as  in  many  other  instances  of  mountain  tunnelling,  the 
great  height  of  the  mountain  peaks  precluded  the  use  of 
shafts,  so  work  had  to  be  exclusively  carried  forward  from 
each  end,  joining  in  the  centre.  The  great  problem  in  tun- 
nelling is  to  run  two,  or  more,  lines  of  excavation  so  that 
they  will  meet  and  not  miss  each  other.  In  the  Mont  Cenis 
tunnel,  the  lines  of  the  opening  varied  about  half  a  yard. 
The  cutting  of  this  tunnel  and  the  accuracy  of  the  junction 
is  considered  an  unparalleled  feat  of  engineering  skill.  It 
has  an  ascending  grade  from  either  end. 

The  first  mention  of  the  Mont  Cenis  Pass  was  about  755, 
when  Pepin  led  his  army  across  it  to  aid  the  Pope  against 
the  Lombard  king.  Fifty  years  after  Charlemagne,  his  son, 
crossed  with  another  army,  having  the  same  end  in  view. 
The  name  of  Mont  Cenis,  however,  for  the  tunnel,  is  a  mis- 
nomer, as  that  mountain  is  from  sixteen  to  twenty  miles  dis- 
tant from  either  end.  There  are  three  peaks  penetrated  by 
the  tunnel — Mount  Tabor,  Frejus,  and  Grand  Vallon.  When 
the  tunnel  was  first  proposed,  it  seemed  but  the  idle  dream 
of  enthusiasts.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  might  have  well 
appalled  the  bravest  and  boldest  of  engineers.  All  possible 
objections  were  raised  as  to  its  practicability  and  worth  by 
scientific  men  and  others.  There  were  all  sorts  of  conjectures 
about  it,  and  obstacles  of  all  kinds  thrown  in  the  way.  Fire, 
gas,  water,  or  lakes,  and  even  caverns,  rock  'too  hard  to 
bore,  and  other  terrible  things  might  be  encountered.  One 


TUNNELS.  423 

great  difficulty  in  boring  tunnels  was  the  excessive  heat  in 
them.  This  was  greatly  increased  by  the  operations  of  blast- 
ing and  driving  the  boring  machines  by  steam.  It  was  not 
till  the  combination  of  compressed  air  as  a  motor  power  with 
the  borer  that  the  work  has  been  conducted  with  greater 
safety  and  expedition. 

This  stupendous  piece  of  work  was  begun  on  August  3ist, 
1857.  The  object  of  the  undertaking  was  to  open  up  a 
shorter  way  of  communication  between  the  north  of  Europe 
and  Italy,  but  it  would  never  have  been  achieved,  except  for 
the  marked  improvements  in  engineering  and  mining  appli- 
ances. The  idea  of  a  tunnel  through  the  Alps  is  supposed 
to  have  been  first  advanced  by  M.  Medail,  a  Piedmontese, 
about  1832,  who  showed  where  the  range  was  the  thinnest — 
between  Piedmont  and  Savoy.  Ten  years  later  he  gave  the 
Italian  government  a  plan  for  a  tunnel  through  the  ridge. 
Twenty-five  years  were  spent  in  talk  and  investigations  be- 
fore the  work  was  actually  begun.  The  first  part  was  hand 
work,  but  the  drilling  machine  was  introduced  in  1861,  which 
materially  increased  the  rate  of  progress.  The  work  upon 
this  tunnel  cost  fifteen  million  dollars.  It  was  completed  in 
December,  1870,  and  in  1871  was  opened  for  traffic.  The 
method  of  perforating  for  blasting  in  this  tunnel  was  in  this 
wise :  Holes  at  the  centre,  very  near  together,  were  first 
drilled.  Then  another  row  around  these,  at  greater  intervals, 
were  drilled.  The  centre  holes  were  first  filled  and  blasted, 
which  made  a  hole  in  the  centre  of  the  space,  then  another 
firing  of  the  outer  circle  effected  a  complete  breaking  away 
of  the  rock.  The  drill  perforator  is  described  as  a  long  car- 
riage, all  wheels  and  bars.  It  had  from  nine  to  twelve  revolv- 
ing chisels.  There  have  been  decided  improvements  in  this 


424  TUNNELS. 

class  of  apparatus,  which  contrast  strongiy  with  the  bulky 
engines  first  constructed.  They  can  now  make  hundreds  of 
strokes  a  minute,  without  cessation,  and  can  be  managed  by 
one  man.  The  drills,  or  perforators,  are  independent  of  each 
other,  so  if  an  accident  befalls  one,  the  work  is  not  impeded. 
It  can  easily  be  withdrawn,  at  convenience,  and  readily 
replaced. 

The  Hoosac  Tunnel,  in  Massachusetts,  is  another  triumph 
in  this  line,  -At  the  time  of  its  inception,  it  was  thought  such 
an  impracticable  project  that  the  time  of  its  completion  was 
used  as  a  synonym  of  eternity.  The  first  idea  was  to  per- 
forate the  mountain  for  a  canal.  The  Hoosac  Mountain 

stood  in  the  way  of  the  most  natural  low-orade  route  between 
«•  o 

Boston  and  the  West.  In  1848  the  Massachusetts  Legisla- 
ture granted  a  charter  to  the  Troy  &  Greenfield  Railroad 
Co.,  for  a  road  from  Greenfield,  Mass.,  to  the  State  line  of 
New  York,  which  was  to  connect  with  a  road  to  be  built  from 
Troy,  N.  Y.  It  was  understood  that  this  road  was  to  pass 
through  the  Hoosac  Mountain.  Work  was  commenced  on 
the  west  end  of  the  road,  in  1851,  but  the  Legislature  refus- 
ing its  financial  assistance,  the  work  could  not  be  continued 
•until  1854,  when  the  State  loaned  its  credit  to  the  amount  of 
two  million  dollars,  which  was  all  that  it  was  at  first  supposed 
the  measure  would  require.  State  scrip  was  issued  at  various 
times.  It  was  soon  found  that  a  much  larger  sum  would  be 
required,  which  was  not  forthcoming.  Work  was  stopped 
July  1 2th,  1861,  and  the  State  foreclosed  its  mortgage,  which 
it  had  taken  upon  the  road  and  other  property  for  security. 
After  two  or  three  years  of  investigation  and  figuring,  the 
State  resumed  and  managed  the  work  till  1868,  when  a  con- 
tract for  its  completion  was  made  with  the  Messrs.  Shanley, 


TUNNELS.  425 

of  Canada,  who  finished  the  work  as  specified.  It  was 
thought  that  the  work  was  built  ahead  of  its  time,  as  one 
terminus  was  only  a  country  village  and  the  other  merely  a 
State  line.  But  to-day,  wherever  there  are  products  to  be 
moved  in  the  United  States,  will  be  seen  cars  labelled, 
"  Hoosac  Tunnel  Line."  The  first  proposition  for  this  tun- 
nel was  in  1820,  before  the  days  of  railroading.  The  railroad 
proving,  about  this  time,  an  assured  success,  it  was  decided 
to  tunnel  for  a  road-bed  instead  of  a  canal.  Three  routes 
were  surveyed,  but  the  original  selection  was  confirmed  and 
work  commenced.  Loammi  Baldwin,  the  engineer,  exclaimed, 
in  reference  to  it :  "  It  seems  as  if  the  finger  of  Providence  had 
pointed  out  this  route  from  the  East  to  the  West."  A  bystander 
is  said  to  have  retorted :  "  It  is  a  great  pity  the  same  finger 
was  not  thrust  through  the  mountain."  The  first  machinery 
used  in  this  tunnel  weighed  seventy-five  tons.  It  was  ex- 
pected to  cut  a  groove  about  a  foot  in  width,  conforming  to 
the  circumference  of  the  tunnel.  Then  the  core,  thus  formed 
in  this  centre,  was  to  be  blasted  out  or  broken  off  with 
wedges.  When  it  had  entered  the  rock  for  ten  feet,  it  broke 
down  and  proved  its  inadequacy  for  the  work,  and  was 
eventually  sold  for  old  iron.  Later,  better  machinery  was 
substituted,  and  the  work  progressed  to  completion  in  Novem- 
ber, 1873. 

Another  class  of  tunnels  is  known  as  the  sub-aqueous,  or 
those  passing  under  rivers.  One  of  the  most  noted  of  these 
is  the  Thames  Tunnel.  Sir  Mark  Isambard  Brunei  is  the 
sharp-eyed,  quick-witted,  ingenious  man  who  constructed  this 
tunnel.  The  suggestion  was  given  him  by  seeing  a  piece  of 
ship  timber  perforated  by  that  most  destructive  worm,  the 
"  teredo  navalis."  His  study  of  the  method  of  its  working 


426  TUNNELS. 

brought  out  the  idea  of  a  "  large  cast-iron  shield,  which 
should  bore  like  an  auger,  by  means  of  strong  screws,  while 
as  fast  as  the  earth  was  cut  away  bricklayers  should 
be  at  hand  to  replace  it  with  an  arch."  His  own  description 
of  this  apparatus  is  :  "  An  ambulating  coffer  dam,  traveling 
horizontally."  The  previous  attempts  of  Mr.  Vasie,  in  1805, 
and  those  of  Mr.  Trevethick,  in  1807,  were  abortive,  but  the 
plans  of  Brunei  were  so  acceptable  to  the  Institute  of  Civil 
Engineers,  as  well  as  the  public,  that  a  company  was  formed, 
in  February,  1824,  and  thirteen  hundred  and  eighty  shares 
of  stock  subscribed  for.  Work  was  commenced  on  March 
2d,  1825. 

It  is  said  that  if  we  will  imagine  an  edifice  of  three  rows 
each  of  twelve  iron  boxes,  nine  feet  deep,  six  feet  high,  and 
three  feet  wide,  each  box  faced  with  small  movable  boards,  a 
good  idea  will  be  had  of  the  Brunei  shield  for  the  workmen. 
It  was  placed  in  front  of  the  completed  brick  arch,  each  man 
removing  one  or  two  boards  and  working  out  some  clay.  It 
would  then  be  shoved  forward  into  the  excavation  so  made, 
that  fresh  surface  might  be  presented  to  the  operations  of 
the  workmen.  During  the  construction  of  this  tunnel,  there 
were  numerous  accidents  and  incidents  owing  to  the  careless- 
ness of  the  workmen  and  the  breaking  in  of  the  river.  The 
holes  made  by  this  latter  catastrophe  were  filled  by  gravel  and 
clay  in  bags  which  had  witch  hazel  boughs  thrust  through  them 
before  sinking  to  place,  so  they  would  cling  together.  Rafts 
loaded  with  clay,  and  tarpaulins  were  also  used.  There  were 
five  irruptions  of  the  Thames,  at  the  second  one  of  which 
there  were  six  lives  lost,  but  none  in  any  of  the  other  in- 
stances, except  one  man.  The  work  was  completed  on 
August  ist,  1842,  at  a  cost  of  two  million  three  hundred  and 


TUNNELS.  427 

forty  thousand  dollars.  It  was  in  1818  that  Brunei  took  out 
a  patent  for  a  new  mode  of  making  tunnels  by  means  of  an 
excavating  machine,  or  shield.  Some  one  has  thus  described 
it :  "  Beneath  the  great  iron  ribs  of  the  shield,  a  kind  of 
mechanical  soul  seems  to  have  been  created.  It  has  its  shoes 
and  its  legs,  and  uses  them,  too,  with  good  effect.  It  raises 
and  depresses  its  head  at  pleasure ;  it  presents  invincible 
buttresses  in  its  front,  to  whatever  danger  might  there 
threaten  ;  and  when  the  danger  is  passed,  it  again  opens 
its  breast  for  the  further  advances  of  the  indefatigable  host." 

Of  aqueduct  tunnels,  America  has  several  fine  specimens, 
of  which  perhaps  the  most  notable  is  the  new  Croton  aque- 
duct of  New  York  city,  which  extends  from  the  Croton  dam 
to  the  reservoir  in  the  city,  a  distance  of  thirty-three  and  a 
quarter  miles.  Practically  the  whole  of  this  was  tunnelled 
out  of  the  rock.  There  were  shafts  sunk  about  one  and  a  half 
miles  apart  and  headings  were  driven  each  way. 

Chicago  has  several  aqueduct  tunnels  extending  out  into 
the  lake  to  cribs  for  the  intaking  of  the  water  supply  of  the 
city.  On  account  of  the  contamination  of  the  supply  of  drink- 
ing water,  drawn  from  the  lake,  by  the  sewage  which  flowed 
into  the  Chicago  river,  the  idea  of  securing  a  supply  farther 
from  shore,  and  at  a  distance  where  it  was  then  thought  this 
sewage  could  never  affect,  the  idea  of  tunnelling  to  that  dis- 
tance was  conceived.  To  Mr.  E.  S.  Chesborough,  an  accom- 
plished engineer,  is  due  the  credit  of  this  idea.  Upon  inves- 
tigation, his  scheme  was  found  to  be  perfectly  feasible,  and 
plans  were  prepared  for  its  construction.  This  tunnel  was 
pronounced,  at  that  time,  the  greatest  marvel  the  world  ever 
saw,  and  the  Thames  Tunnel  was  considered  but  child's  play 
beside  it.  The  contract  for  the  work  was  signed  on  the  28th 


TUNNELS. 

•day  of  October,  1863,  and  specified  that  the  work  should  be 
finished  "on  or  before  the  ist  day  of  November,  1865." 

This  time  had  to  be  subsequently  extended  for  years. 
Ground  was  not  broken  till  March  i;th,  1864,  owing  to  delays 
in  the  casting  of  the  immense  cylinders  for  the  shore  shaft 
of  the  tunnel.  The  first  attempts  were  unsuccessful  on 
.account  of  the  quicksand  encountered,  and  the  contract  had 
to  be  altered.  The  tunnel  has  a  slope  from  the  crib,  or  lake 
terminus  to  the  shore  of  two  feet  in  each  mile,  so  that  it 
might  be  emptied  in  the  event  of  needed  repairs.  Two 
workmen  could  only  work  ahead  of  the  masons,  as  the  tunnel 
was  so  small,  only  five  feet  and  two  inches  in  height,  and  its 
width  five  feet.  This  made  a  very  tedious  operation,  as  it  was 
damp  and  dark,  and  impure  air  abounded,  making  piping 
necessary  for  the  transmission  of  fresh  oxygen  to  the 
miners.  The  objective  point  of  this  tunnel  was  the  crib  in 
the  lake.  This  was  made  on  shore  and  built  and  launched 
like  any  other  marine  hulk.  It  was  pentagonal  in  shape  and 
made  with  three  walls,  one  within  the  other,  all  firmly  bolted 
together  and  thoroughly  braced.  Each  wall  was  caulked  and 
tarred  to  render  it  water-proof.  This  structure  was  launched 
on  July  24th,  1865,  and  a  gala  day  was  made  of  the  occasion. 
It  was  towed  to  its  final  resting  spot  by  tugs,  its  flood  gates 
were  opened,  and  it  sank  beneath  the  water.  When  it  had 
sunk  to  place  it  was  filled  with  stone,  excepting  its  centre 
compartment,  which  was  reserved  for  the  lake  shaft.  Cables 
were  attached  to  its  corners,  and  these  were  anchored  to  the 
bottom  of  the  lake  by  marine  mooring  screws,  which  were 
already  imbedded  in  the  lake.  A  lighthouse  was  subse- 
quently built  over  the  centre.  This  was  two  miles  from 
shore.  After  the  shaft  had  been  sunk  in  the  crib  to  the  re- 


TUNNELS.  429* 

quired  distance  under  the  lake,  a  heading  was  started  shore- 
ward to  meet  the  outcoming  miners.  During  winter  and  the 
freezing  over  of  the  lake  to  this  point,  the  corps  of  workmen 
at  the  lake  end  were  cut  entirely  off  from  shore  communica- 
tion, except  by  means  of  signals.  When  the  two  lines  finally 
joined,  it  was  found  that  they  did  not  vary  as  much  as  a 
whole  inch.  Well  might  it  be  said  :  "  The  work  on  the  tun- 
nel was  comparatively  nothing  ;  it  was  the  inception  and  the 
daring  which  determined  to  carry  out  the  idea  to  a  successful 
result  that  are  amonof  the  wonderful.  The  confidence  in  the 

o 

ability  to  burrow  two  miles  out  under  the  lake,  and  then  come 
up  to  the  surface  in  deep  water,  was  of  the  sublime  kind 
which  assimilates  to  the  faith  that  removes  mountains."  The 
two  corps  shook  hands  on  November  24th,  1866.  Since  that 
date,  the  necessity  has  arisen,  from  the  immense  increase  in 
the  population  of  the  Garden  City,  and  the  greatly  increased 
contamination  of  the  water,  to  add  three  other  tunnels  of 
various  lengths,  the  last  one  being  fully  double  the  length  of 
the  first.  So  Chicago  has  several  specimens  of  what  the  out- 
side world  denominated  a  "  wild  job,"  and  declared  could  not 
be  done.  Beside  these  lake  tunnels  this  city  has  two  others 
under  the  Chicago  river,  for  the  use  of  the  street  cable 
railways,  and  one  for  foot  passengers. 

Tunnels  have  acquired  such  an  assured  place  in  civil  engi- 
neering that  there  are  scarcely  any  of  the  leading  cities  of 
the  world  which  have  not  from  one  to  many  of  them,  used  for 
various  purposes. 

Since  the  time,  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  years  ago,  when  the  miners  of  Furious  Camillus  drove 
the  famous  "  Emissarium  "  through  a  part  of  Mont  Alba  and: 
tapped  the  waters  of  a  lake,  to  the  present  of  engineering 


430  TUNNELS. 

perfection,  the  improvements  in  appliances  have  been  almost 
incredible.  Work  which  would  then  have  taken  years  can  now 
be  accomplished  in  days,  and  in  a  much  more  finished  manner. 

As  the  adoption  of  tunnels  has  progressed,  it  is  interesting 
to  notice  some  of  the  objections  urged  against  their  con- 
struction. Perhaps  one  of  the  most  senseless  is  the  idea 
that  by  their  use  to  connect  foreign  countries,  the  insular  and 
peculiar  characteristics  of  a  people  are  destroyed. 

Schemnitz,  the  principal  mining  city  of  Hungary,  has  a 
tunnel,  the  Joseph  II  Mining  Adit,  which  has  been  claimed  as 
the  deepest  gallery  of  efflux  of  that  place,  and  the  longest 
subterranean  work  of  this  kind  in  the  world.  It  was  com- 
menced in  1782,  during  the  reign  of  Joseph  II,  and  completed 
September  5th,  1878.  Its  length  is  sixteen  thousand  five 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  meters. 

In  1871,  Italy,  Germany,  and  Switzerland  voted  large  sums 
of  money  for  building  a  road,  to  be  begun  immediately.  It 
was  to  run  from  Lake  Lucerne,  Switzerland,  to  Lake  Mag- 
giore,  Italy,  one  hundred  and  eight  miles.  Nearly  a  quarter 
of  this  distance  was  to  be  tunnelled  through  mountains  of 
solid  granite.  The  main  tunnel  entered  the  Alps  at  Groesch- 
enen,  Switzerland,  and  came  out  at  Airolo,  Italy.  This  sec- 
tion was  forty-eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-six 
feet  in  length.  There  are  also  a  number  of  smaller  tunnels, 
The  cost  was  greatly  under-estimated,  and  when  the  mistake 
was  discovered  it  threatened  to  kill  the  project  completely, 
even  though  the  work  was  fairly  started.  This  blunder  made 
a  difference  of  one  hundred  and  two  million  francs.  The 
stock  ran  down,  and  many  stockholders  were  nearly  ruined 
by  the  collapse.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  if  all  was  not 
lost,  more  must  be  added  to  the  investments  already  made. 


TUNNELS.  431 

To  add  to  the  trouble,  times  were  hard,  crises  were  imminent, 
and  war  was  on  the  continent.  The  required  funds  were 
finally  raised,  and  the  contract  to  complete  the  work  was 
given  to  Louis  Favre,  of  Geneva.  Boring  in  this  tunnel  was 
done  by  compressed  air-drills.  There  were  fifty-five  of  these 
air- drills  at  work  at  each  end  of  the  excavation.  These 
drills  are  thus  described :  "  A  large,  long,  iron  framework 
some  seven  feet  wide  and  six  feet  high  and  ten  feet  long, 
stands  on  a  bit  of  railway  built  for  the  purpose  close  to  the 
rock.  To  the  sides  of  this  iron  frame  are  clamped  little  gun- 
metal  cylinders,  supplied  with  compressed  air  from  the  air- 
tubes  running  in  from  the  compressors  outside  the  tunnel. 
To  the  ends  of  the  extending  portions  of  these  little  cylinders 
are  fastened  the  long  iron  drills,  which  are  driven  into  the 
rock  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  strokes  per  minute. 
There  is  no  boring  in  a  proper  sense,  it  is  simply  drilling.  A 
simple  contrivance  causes  it  to  turn  over  and  over  as  the  drill 
progresses.  These  machines  punch  holes  into  the  rock  about 
four  feet  deep,  and  are  then  moved  back  to  a  safe  distance, 
while  the  holes  so  pierced  are  filled  with  long  cartridges  of 
dynamite,  to  be  fired  by  fuses."  These  machines  make  a 
deafening  noise  while  at  work,  and  it  is  impossible  to  carry 
on  a  conversation,  or  even  give  orders,  except  by  signals.  In 
many  of  these  tunnel  excavations  the  darkness  is  so  murky 
that  signal  lights  are  of  no  avail,  and  torpedoes,  for  warning 
to  engineers,  have  to  be  resorted  to.  After  a  blast,  the  com- 
pressed-air in  the  machine  is  allowed  to  escape,  by  which 
means  the  foul  gases  and  smoke  are  gradually  pushed  to  the 
rear  and  fresh  air  substituted  for  the  workmen  to  breathe. 
These  machines  would  progress  sometimes  eighteen  or  nine- 
teen feet  in  a  day,  if  the  material  to  be  excavated  was  not  too 


432 


TUNNELS. 


obdurate;  again  the  rate  of  progress  would  only  be  ten  and 
one-half  feet  for  each  machine. 

Mr.  Hell  wag,  the  engineer-in-chief,  invented  the  spiral 
tunnel,  by  which  the  line  of  travel  was  elevated,  or  raised  in 
grade.  There  were  three  thousand  five  hundred  persons 
employed  in  the  construction  of  this  tunnel.  The  perforators 
of  a  drilling  machine  are  so  adjusted  that  they  attack  the 
rock  at  different  points  and  varying  angles,  upon  a  surface 
seven  meters  square.  The  average  hole  is  from  thirty  to 
forty  inches  deep  where  the  material  will  permit,  but  only 
about  seven  inches  deep  in  the  hardest  quartz  rock.  The 
first  rock-drill  was  patented  by  a  man  by  name  of  Bartlett, 
in  1855,  but  these  machines  have  since  then  been  so  modified, 
improved,  and  multiplied  that  there  are  now  many  different 
systems  of  these  appliances. 

The  driving  of  the  third  of  the  Alpine  tunnels,  the  Arl- 
berg,  was  begun  in  1880  and  completed  in  a  little  more  than 
three  years,  as  by  this  time  all  mining  apparatus  had  been  so 
greatly  improved  that  progress  could  be  more  speedy  than 
formerly.  Air-drills  were  used,  and  also  a  rotary  hydraulic 
drill.  After  each  explosion  a  fine  spray  of  water  was  injected, 
which  was  of  great  benefit  to  the  ventilation.  Headings 
were  made  in  each  direction,  right  and  left,  from  shafts  which 
were  opened  up  from  twenty  to  seventy  yards  'apart,  so  the 
work  was  expeditiously  accomplished.  This  tunnel,  when 
completed,  measured  six  and  one-half  miles  in  length,  while 
the  St.  Gothard  was  nine  and  one-half  miles. 

Many  famous  tunnels  cannot  be  here  described,  and  thou- 
sands of  others  cannot  even  be  alluded  to,  but  persons  wish- 
ing to  continue  this  subject  will  find  an  amount  of  literature 
upon  the  topic  which  merits  perusal. 


TUNNELS.  433- 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  advance  in  the  perfection  of 
explosives,  from  the  gunpowder  of  the  first  blast,  to  the 
finest  tri-nitro-glycerine  of  the  later  work,  manufactured,  ire 
the  greatest  purity,  near  the  scene  of  action.  Of  this,  more 
than  half  a  million  pounds  were  used  in  the  excavation  of  one 
tunnel  alone,  the  Hoosac.  Nitro-glycerine  was  discovered 
by  Sobrero  in  1846,  but  we  are  indebted  to  Nobel  for  the 
key  to  its  use  in  blasting.  From  his  experiments  with  nitro- 
glycerine, Nobel  invented  dynamite,  and,  subsequently,  the 
blasting  gelatine. 

Short  cuts  and  expeditious  transits  are  secured  by  the  use. 
of  tunnels,  and,  from  the  evidences  of  the  past,  we  are  led  to^ 
believe  that  there  are   no  mechanical  or  natural  difficulties 
which  the  persistence  and  ingenuity  of  man  cannot  surmount  - 
if  necessity  should  require. 


28 


LIGHT. 

OF  all  the  elements  which  play  a  high  part  in  the  mate- 
rial universe,  the  light  which  emanates  from  the  sun 
is  certainly  the  most  remarkable,  whether  we  view  it 
in  its  sanatory,  scientific,  or  aesthetical  relations.     It 
is,  to  speak  metaphorically,  the  very  life-blood  of  na- 
ture, without  which  everything  material  would  fade  and  per- 
ish.    It  is  the  fountain  of  all  our  knowledge  of  the  external 
universe,  and  it  is  now  becoming  the  historiographer  of  the 
visible  creation,  recording  and  transmitting  to  future  ages  all 
that  is  beautiful  and  sublime  in  organic  and  inorganic  nature, 
and  stamping  on  perennial  tablets  the  hallowed  scenes  of 
domestic  life,  the  ever-varying  phases  of  social  intercourse, 
and  the  more  exciting  tracks  of  bloodshed  and  of  war  which 
Christians  still  struggle  to  reconcile  with  the  principles  of 
their  faith. 

The  influence  of  light  on  physical  life  is  a  subject  of  which 
we,  at  present,  know  very  little,  and  one,  consequently,  in 
which  the  public,  in  their  still  greater  ignorance,  will  take 
little  interest ;  but  the  scenes  of  light  which,  under  the  name 
of  Optics,  has  been  studied  for  nearly  two  hundred  years  by 
the  brightest  intellects  of  the  Old  and  New  World,  consists 
of  a  body  of  facts  and  laws  of  the  most  extraordinary  kind, 
rich  in  popular  as  well  as  profound  knowledge,  and  affording 

434 


LIGHT.  435 

to  educated  students — male  and  female — simple  and  lucid  ex- 
planations of  that  boundless  and  brilliant  array  of  phenomena 
which  light  creates  and  manifests  and  develops.  While  it 
has  given  to  astronomy  and  navigation  their  telescopes  and 
instruments  of  discovery,  and  to  the  botanist,  the  naturalist, 
and  the  physiologist  their  microscopes — simple,  compound, 
and  polarizing — it  has  shown  to  the  student  of  nature  how 
the  juices  of  plants  and  animals,  and  the  integuments  and 
films  of  organic  bodies  elicit  from  the  pure  sunbeam  its  pris- 
matic elements,  clothing  fruit  and  flower  with  their  gorgeous 
attire,  bathing  every  aspect  of  nature  in  the  rich  and  varied 
hues  of  spring  and  autumn,  painting  the  sky  with  azure,  and 
the  clouds  with  gold. 

Thus  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  light,  and  armed  with 
the  secrets  and  powers  which  science  has  wrested  from  the 
God  of  Day,  philosophers  of  our  own  age  have  discovered 
in  certain  dark  rays  of  sunbeam  a  magic  though  visible  pen- 
cil, which  can  delineate  instantaneously  every  form  of  life  and 
being,  and  fix  in  durable  outline  every  expression,  demoniacal 
or  divine,  which  the  passions  and  intellects  of  man  can  im- 
press upon  the  living  clay.  They  have  imparted  to  the  cul- 
tivators of  art  their  mighty  secret,  and  thousands  of  travel- 
ing artists  are  now  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe  recording 
all  that  earth  and  ocean  and  air  can  display,  all  that  man  has 
perpetrated  against  the  strongholds  of  his  enemies,  and  all 
that  he  has  more  wisely  done  to  improve  and  embellish  the 
home  which  has  been  given-  him. 

o 

A  branch  of  knowledge  so  intimately  connected  with  our 
well-being,  so  pregnant  with  the  displays  of  the  divine  wis- 
dom and  beneficence,  and  so  closely  allied  in  its  aesthetical 
with  every  interest,  social  and  domestic,  might  have  been  ex- 


436 


LIGHT. 


pected  to  form  a  part  in  our  educational  courses,  or,  through 
the  agencies  of  cheap  literature  and  popular  exposition,  to 
have  commanded  a  place  in  the  school  and  in  the  drawing- 
room,  and  to  have  gilded,  if  not  to  have  replaced,  the  frivol- 
ities of  fashionable  life.  Such  expectations,  however,  have 
not  been  realized.  Men  of  science,  who  are  much  in  the 
society  of  the  educated  world,  and  especially  of  those  favortd 
classes  who  have  the  finest  opportunities  of  acquiring  knowl- 
edge, are  struck  with  the  depths  of  ignorance  which  they  en- 
counter, while  they  are  surprised  at  the  taste  which  so  gener- 
ally prevails  for  natural  history  pursuits,  and  at  the  passion 
which  is  universally  exhibited  even  for  higher  scientific  ink>i- 
mation  which  can  be  comprehended  by  the  judgment  and  ap- 
propriated by  the  memory.  The  prevailing  ignorance,  there 
fore,  of  which  we  speak  is  the  offspring  of  an  imperfect  sys- 
tem of  education,  which  has  already  given  birth  to  great 
social  evils,  to  financial  laws  unjust  to  individuals  and  ruinous 
to  the  physical  and  moral  health  of  the  community.  If  the 
public  be  ignorant  of  science  and  its  applications  in  their 
more  fascinating  and  intelligible  phases,  if  our  clergy,  in  their 
weekly  homilies,  never  throw  a  sunbeam  of  secular  truth 
among  their  people,  if  legislators  hardly  surpass  their  con- 
stituents in  these  essential  branches  of  knowledge,  how  can 
the  great  interests  of  civilization  be  maintained  and  advanced  ? 
how  are  scientific  men  to  gain  their  place  in  the  social  scale  ? 
and  how  are  the  material  interests  of  a  great  nation,  depend- 
ing so  essentially  on  the  encouragement  of  art  and  science 
to  be  protected  and  extended?  How  are  Europe  and 
America  to  fare,  if  they  will  continue  the  only  civilized  nations 
which,  amid  the  perpetual  struggles  of  political  factions, 
never  devote  an  hour  of  their  legislative  life  to  the  considera- 


IT. 

tion  of  educational   establishments  and  the  consolidation  of 
scientific  institutions  ? 

Impressed  with  the  importance  of  these  facts,  and  in  the 
hope  that  some  remedy  may  be  found  for  such  a  state  of 
things,  we  have  drawn  up  the  following  article  in  order  to 
show  how  much  useful  and  popular  and  pleasing  information 
may  be  learned  from  a  popular  exposition  of  the  nature  and 
properties  of  the  single  element  of  light,  in  its  sanatory,  its 
scientific,  and  its  artistic  or  aesthetical  relations.  Should  our 
more  intelligent  readers  arise  from  its  perusal  with  infor- 
mation which  they  had  not  anticipated  and  which  they  had 
previously  regarded  as  beyond  their  depth,  our  labor  in 
preparing  it  will  be  amply  rewarded,  and  we  shall  hope  to 
meet  them  again  in  our  surveys  of  the  more  popular  branches 
of  science. 

In  attempting  to  expound  the  influence  of  light  as  a  sana- 
tory agent  we  enter  upon  a  subject  which,  in  so  far  as  we 
know,  is  entirely  new,  and  upon  which  little  information  is  to 
be  obtained ;  but  admitting  the  existence  of  the  influence  it- 
self, as  partly  established  by  observation  and  analogy,  and 
admitting,  too,  the  vast  importance  of  the  subject  in  its  per- 
sonal and  social  aspects,  we  venture  to  say  that  science  fur- 
nishes us  with  principles  and  methods  by  which  the  blessings 
of  light  may  be  diffused  in  localities  where  a  cheering  sun- 
beam has  never  reached,  and  where  all  the  poisons  and  ma- 
laria of  darkness  have  been  undermining  the  soundest  con- 
stitutions, and  carrying  thousands  of  our  race  prematurely 
to  the  grave. 

The  influence  of  light  upon  vegetable  life  has  been  long 
and  successfully  studied  by  the  botanist  and  chemist.  The 
researches  of  Priestley,  Ingenhousz,  Sennebier,  and  Decan- 


433 


LIGHT. 


dolle,  and  the  more  recent  ones  of  Carradori,  Payen,  and 
Macaire  have  placed  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  rays  of  the 
sun  exert  the  most  marked  influence  on  the  respiration,  the 
absorption,  and  the  exhalation  of  plants,  and,  consequently, 
on  their  general  and  local  nutrition.  Dr.  Priestley  tells  us, 
"  It  is  well  known  that  without  light  no  plant  can  thrive ;  and 
if  it  do  grow  at  all  in  the  dark,  it  is  always  white,  and  is  in 
all  other  respects  in  a  sick  and  weakly  state."  He  is  of 
opinion  that  healthy  plants  are  in  a  state  similar  to  sleep  in 
the  absence  cf  light,  and  that  they  resume  their  proper  func- 
tions when  placed  under  the  influence  of  light  and  the  direct 
action  of  the  solar  rays. 

The  general  result  of  experiments  is  thus  given  by  their 
author :  "  Upon  the  whole,  then,  I  am  inclined  to  infer  from 
the  general  tenor  of  the  experiments  I  have  hitherto  made 
that  both  the  exhalation  and  the  absorption  of  moisture 
by  plants,  so  far  as  they  depend  upon  the  influence  of 
light,  are  affected  in  the  greatest  degree  by  the  most 
luminous  rays,  and  that  all  the  functions  of  the  vegetable 
economy  which  are  owing  to  the  presence  of  this  agent, 
follow,  in  that  respect,  the  same  law."  (Phil.  Trans.,  1836, 
pp.  162-3.) 

This  curious  subject  has  been  recently  studied  in  a  more 
general  aspect  by  Mr.  Robert  Hunt,  who  has  published  his 
results  in  the  Reports  of  the  British  Association  for  1847. 
Not  content  with  ascertaining,  as  his  predecessors  had  done, 
the  action  of  the  sun's  white  and  undecomposed  light  upon 
the  germination  and  growth  of  plants,  he  availed  himself  of 
the  discovery  of  the  chemical  or  invisible  rays  of  light,  and 
sought  to  determine  the  peculiar  influence  of  these  rays  and 
of  the  various  colors  of  solar  light  upon  the  germination  of 


LIGHT. 


439 


seeds,  the   growth  of  the  wood,  and  the   other  functions  of 
plants. 

In  order  to  explain  the  results  which  he  obtained  we  must 
initiate  the  reader  into  the  constitution  of  the  white  light 
which  issues  from  the  sun.  If  we  admit  a  cylindrical  beam 
of  the  sun's  light  through  a  small  circular  aperture  into  a 
dark  room,  it  will  form  a  round  white  spot  when  received  on 
paper.  Now  this  white  beam  consists  of  three  visible  colored 
beams,  which,  when  mixed  or  falling  on  the  same  spot,  make 
white,  and  of  two  invisible  beams,  one  of  which  produces 
heat  and  the  other  a  chemical  influence  called  actinism,  which 
produces  chemical  changes,  the  most  remarkable  of  which 
are  embodied  in  photographic  pictures.  The  whole  sunbeam, 
therefore,  contains  luminous  or  colored-making  rays,  heating 
rays,  and  chemical  rays. 

When  white  light,  therefore,  acts  upon  plants,  we  require 
to  know  which  of  these  rays  produces  any  of  the  remarkable 
changes  that  take  place ;  and  as  it  is  not  easy  to  insulate  the 
different  rays  and  make  them  act  separately,  the  inquiry  is 
attended  with  considerable  difficulty.  By  using  colored 
glasses  and  colored  fluids,  which  absorb  certain  rays  of  white 
light  and  allow  others  to  pass,  Mr.  Hunt  made  arrangements 
by  which  he  could  submit  plants  to  an  excess  of  red,  yellow, 
or  bhie  rays,  or  to  an  excess  of  the  heating  rays,  or  of  the 
chemical  or  actinic  ones.  In  this  way  he  was  not  able  to 
study  the  pure  influence  of  any  of  those  rays  in  a  state  of 
perfect  insulation,  but  merely  the  influence  of  a  preponder- 
ance of  one  set  of  rays  over  others,  which  is  sufficient  to  in- 
dicate to  a  certain  extent  their  decided  action.  This  will  be 
better  understood  from  a  few  results  obtained  with  differently 
colored  media. 


44° 

Light.  Heat.  Chemical  rays. 

White  light  contains, 100  100  loo 

Solution  of  bichromate  of  potash,  ....    87  92  27 

Solution  of  sulphate  of  chromium,    ...    85  92  7 

Series  of  blue  glasses, 40  72  90 

Solution  of  sulphate  of  copper, 60  54  93 

Solution  of  ammoniate  of  copper, ....     25  48  94 

It  is  very  obvious  that  the  action  of  the  chemical  rays  will 
be  obtained  from  the  three  last  of  these  colored  media,  and 
the  action  of  the  luminous  and  heating  rays  from  the  two 
first,  where  the  chemical  rays  are  comparatively  feeble. 
In  this  way  Mr.  Hunt  obtained  the  following  interesting 
results : 

1.  Light  prevents  the  germination  of  seeds. 

2.  The  germination  of  seeds  is  more  rapid  under  the   in- 
fluence of  the  chemical   rays,  separated   from   the   luminous 
ones  than  it  is  under  the  combined  influence  of  all  the   rays, 
or  in  the  dark. 

3.  Light  acts  in   effecting  the  decomposition   of  carbonic 
acid  by  the  growing  plant. 

4.  The  chemical  rays  and  light  (or  all  the  rays  of  the  spec- 
trum visible  to  a  perfect  eye)  are  essential  to  the  formation 
of  the  coloring  matter  of  leaves. 

5.  Light  and  the  chemical   rays,  independent  of  the   rays 
of  heat,  prevent  the  development  of  the  reproductive  organs 
•of  plants. 

6.  The  radiations  of  heat,  corresponding  with   the  extreme 
.red  rays  of  the   spectrum,  facilitate   the  flowering  of  plants, 
.and  the  perfecting  of  their  reproductive  principles. 

In  spring  Mr.  Hunt  found  that  the  chemical  rays  were  the 
most  active,  and  in  very  considerable  excess,  as  compared 
with  those  of  light  and  heat.  As  the  summer  advanced,  the 


44i 

light  and  heat  increased  in  a  very  great  degree  relatively  to 
the  chemical  rays  ;  and  in  autumn  the  light  and  the  chemical 
rays  both  diminish  relatively  to  the  rays  of  heat,  which  are 
by  far  the  most  extensive. 

"  In  the  spring,"  says  Mr.  Hunt,  "  when  seeds  germinate 
and  young  vegetation  awakes  from  the  repose  of  winter,  we 
find  an  excess  of  that  principle  which  imparts  the  required 
stimulus ;  in  the  summer,  this  exciting  agent  is  counter- 
balanced by  another  possessing  different  powers,  upon  the 
exercise  of  which  the  structural  formation  of  the  plant  de- 
pends ;  and  in  the  autumnal  season  these  are  checked  by  a 
mysterious  agency  which  we  can  scarcely  recognize  as  heat, 
although  connected  with  calorific  manifestations,  upon  which 
appears  to  depend  the  development  of  the  flower  and  the 
perfection  of  the  seed." 

The  very  curious  fact  of  plants  bending  toward  the  light, 
as  if  to  catch  its  influence,  must  have  been  frequently  ob- 
served. Mr.  Hunt  found  that,  "  under  all  ordinary  circum- 
stances, plants,  in  a  very  decided  manner,  bent  toward  the 
light ;"  and,  what  is  exceedingly  interesting,  when  the  light 
employed  was  red,  from  passing  through  red  fluid  media,  the 
plants  as  decidedly  bent  from  it.  The  property  of  bending 
toward  the  light  is  strikingly  exhibited  by  the  potato  ;  and  it 
has  been  found  that  the  yellow  or  most  luminous  rays  are 
most  efficacious  in  producing  this  movement,  while  the  red 
rays,  as  before,  produce  a  repulsive  effect. 

If  light,  then,  is  so  essential  to  the  life  of  plants  that  they 
will  even  exert  a  limited  power  of  locomotion  in  order  to 
reach  it,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  it  may  be 
necessary,  though  to  a  less  extent,  for  the  development  and 
growth  of  animals.  When  we  look  at  the  different  classes 


442 

of  inferior  animals  we  hardly  observe  any  relations  with 
light  excepting  those  of  vision  ;  but,  under  the  conviction 
that  light  does  influence  animal  life,  various  naturalists  have 
devoted  their  attention  to  the  subject.  In  his  chapter  u  on 
the  influence  of  light  upon  the  development  of  the  body," 
Dr.  W.  F.  Edwards  has  given  us  some  important  information 
on  the  effect  of  light  in  the  development  of  animals,  or  in  those 
changes  of  form  which  they  undergo  in  the  interval  between 
conception  and  fecundation  and  adult  age — a  process  which, 
previously  to  birth,  is  generally  carried  on  in  the  dark.  "  There 
are,  however,  animals,"  says  Dr.  Edwards,  "  whose  impreg- 
nated eggs  are  hatched,  notwithstanding  their  exposure  to 
the  rays  of  the  sun.  Of  this  number  are  the  batrachians 
(frogs).  I  wished  to  determine  what  influence  light,  indepen- 
dently of  heat,  might  exercise  upon  this  kind  of  develop- 
ment." With  this  view,  he  placed  some  frog's  spawn  in 
water,  in  a  vessel  rendered  impervious  to  light,  and  some  in 
another  vessel  which  was  transparent.  They  were  exposed 
to  the  same  temperature,  but  the  rays  of  the  sun  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  transparent  vessel.  All  the  eggs  exposed  to 
light  were  developed  in  succession,  but  none  of  those  in  the 
dark  did  well. 

As  almost  all  animals  are  more  or  less  exposed  to  light 
after  birth,  Dr.  Edwards  thought  it  would  be  interesting  to 
determine  the  peculiar  effect  of  light  upon  the  development 
of  the  body.  As  all  animals,  in  growing,  gradually  change 
their  form  and  proportions,  and  make  it  difficult  to  observe 
slight  shades  of  modification,  he  chose  for  his  experiments 
species  among  the  vertebrata  whose  development  presents 
precise  and  palpable  differences.  These  conditions  are  com- 
bined in  the  highest  degree  in  the  frog.  In  its  first  period  it 


LIGHT.  443 

has  the  form  and  even  the  mode  of  life  of  a  fish,  with  a  tail 
and  gills,  and  without  limbs.  In  its  second  period  it  is  com- 
pletely metamorphosed  into  a  reptile,  having  acquired  four 
limbs,  and  lost  its  tail  and  gills  and  all  resemblance  to  a  fish. 
Dr.  Edwards  employed  the  tadpoles  of  the  Rana  obstet- 
ricians, and  he  found  that  all  those  which  enjoyed  the  pres- 
ence of  the  light  underwent  the  change  of  form  appertaining 
to  the  adult.  "  We  see,  then,"  says  Dr.  Edwards,  "that  the 
action  of  light  tends  to  develop  the  different  parts  of  the 
body  in  that  just  proportion  which  characterizes  the  type  of 
the  species.  This  type  is  well  characterized  only  in  the  adult. 
The  deviations  from  it  are  the  more  strongly  marked  the 
nearer  the  animal  is  to  the  period  of  its  birth.  If,  therefore, 
there  were  any  species  existing  in  circumstances  unfavorable 
to  their  further  development,  they  might  possibly  long  sub- 
sist under  a  type  very  different  from  that  which  nature  had 
designed  for  them.  The  Proteus  Anguiformis  appears  to  be 
of  this  number.  The  facts  above  mentioned  tend  to  confirm 
this  opinion.  The  Proteus  Anguiformis  lives  in  the  subterra- 
neous waters  of  Carniola,  where  the  absence  of  light  unites 
with  the  low  temperature  of  those  lakes  in  preventing  the 
development  of  the  peculiar  form  of  the  adult." 

The  experiments  of  M.  Morren  on  the  animalcules  gener- 
ated in  stagnant  waters,  and  those  of  M.  Moleschott  on  the 
respiration  of  frogs  as  measured  by  the  quantity  of  carbonic 
acid  gas  which  they  exhale,  confirm  the  general  results  ob- 
tained by  Dr.  Edwards  ;  but  the  most  important  researches 
on  the  subject  have  just  been  published  by  M.  Beclard,  in  the 
note  which  appears  among  the  works  at  the  head  of  this 
article.  During  the  last  four  years  he  has  been  occupied 
with  a  series  of  experiments  on  the  influence  of  the  white  and 


LIGHT. 

444 

.colored  light  of  the  spectrum,  on  the  principal  functions  of 
nutrition ;  and,  in  the  note  referred  to  he  has  presented  to 
the  Academy  of  Sciences,  in  a  concise  form,  some  of  the 
more  important  results  which  he  has  obtained. 

Having  placed  the  eggs  of  the  fly  (Musca  carnaria)  in  six 
bell  glasses,  violet,  blue,  red,  yellow,  transparent,  and  green,  he 
found,  at  the  end  of  four  or  five  days,  that  the  worms  were 
most  developed  in  the  violet  and  blue  glasses,  and  least  in  the 
green;  the  influence  of  the  other  colors  diminishing  in  the  or- 
der we  have  named  them  from  violet  to  green.  Between 
these  extremes  the  worms  developed  were  as  three  to  one, 
both  with  respect  to  bulk  and  length. 

In  studying  the  influence  of  the  differently  colored  rays 
upon  frogs,  which  have  an  energetic  cutaneous  respiration, 
equal  and  often  superior  to  their  pulmonary  respiration,  M. 
Beclard  found  that  the  same  weight  of  frogs  produced  more 
than  twice  the  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  under  the  green  than 
under  the  red  glass.  When  the  same  frogs  were  skinned,  the 
opposite  result  was  obtained.  The  carbonic  acid  was  then 
greater  in  the  red  than  in  the  green  rays. 

In  the  number  of  experiments  on  the  cutaneous  exhalations 
of  the  vapor  of  water  from  frogs,  the  quantity  was  one-half 
less  in  darkness  than  in  white  or  violet  light,  in  which  the  ex- 
halation was  the  same. 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  influence  of  light  upon  the 
human  frame,  physical  and  mental,  in  health  and  disease,  in 
developing  the  perfect  form  of  the  adult,  and  in  preserving  it 
from  premature  decay.  We  regret  to  find  that  our  knowl- 
edge on  these  points  is  so  extremely  limited,  and  we  are  sur- 
prised that  physicians  and  physiologists  should  not  have 
availed  themselves  of  their  numerous  opportunities  in  hospi- 


LIGHT.  445 

tals,  prisons,  and  mad-houses  of  studying  so  important  a  sub- 
ject. We  must  grope  our  way,  therefore,  among  general 
speculations  and  insulated  facts  in  the  hope  of  arriving  at 
some  positive  results  ;  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  direct 
influence  of  light  over  the  phenomena  of  life  will  not  be 
found  limited  to  the  vegetable  kingdom  and  the  lower  races 
of  the  animal  world. 

Man,  in  his  most  perfect  type,  is  doubtless  to  be  found  in 
the  temperate  regions  of  the  globe,  where  the  solar  influences 
of  light,  heat,  and  chemical  rays  are  so  nicely  balanced.  Un- 
der the  scorching  heat  of  the  tropics,  man  cannot  call  into 
exercise  his  highest  powers.  The  calorific  rays  are  all  power- 
ful there,  and  lassitude  of  body  and  immaturity  of  mind  are 
its  necessary  results ;  while  in  the  darkness  of  the  Polar  re- 
gions the  distinctive  characters  of  our  species  almost  disap- 
pear in  the  absence  of  those  solar  influences  which  are  so 
powerful  in  the  organic  world. 

It  is  well  known  to  all  who  are  obliged  to  seek  for  health 
in  a  Southern  climate  that  an  ample  share  of  light  is  consid- 
ered necessary  for  its  recovery.  In  all  the  hotels  and  lodg- 
ing-houses in  France  and  Italy,  the  apartments  with  a  south 
exposure  are  earnestly  sought  for,  and  the  patient,  under  the 
advice  of  his  physician,  strives  to  fix  himself  in  these  genial 
localities.  The  salutary  effect,  however,  thus  ascribed  to  light 
might  arise  from  the  greater  warmth  which  accompanies  the 
solar  rays ;  but  this  can  hardly  be  the  case  in  mild  climates,, 
or,  indeed,  in  any  climate  where  a  fixed  artificial  temperature 
can  be  easily  maintained.  Something,  too,  is  doubtless  owing 
to  the  cheering  effect  of  light  upon  an  invalid,  but  this  effect 
is  not  excluded  from  apartments  so  situated  that  out  of  a 
western  or  a  northern  window  we  may  see  the  finest  scenery 
illuminated  by  the  full  blaze  of  a  meridian  sun. 


446  LIGHT- 

While  the  distinguished  Sir  James  Wylie,  late  physician 
to  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  resided  in  St.  Petersburg,  he 
studied  the  effect  of  light  as  a  curative  agent.  In  the 
hospitals  of  that  city  there  were  apartments  entirely  with- 
out light,  and,  upon  comparing  the  number  of  patients  who 
left  these  apartments  cured,  he  found  that  they  were  only 
one-fourth  the  number  of  those  who  went  out  cured  from 
properly  lighted  rooms.  In  this  case,  the  curative  agency 
could  not  reasonably  be  ascribed  either  to  the  superior 
warmth  or  ventilation  of  the  well-lighted  apartments,  because 
in  all  such  hospitals  the  introduction  of  fresh  air  is  a  special 
object  of  attention,  and  the  heating  of  wards  without  windows 
is  not  difficult  to  accomplish. 

But  though  the  records  of  our  great  hospitals  assist  us  in 
our  present  inquiry,  yet  facts  sufficiently  authentic  and  in- 
structive may  be  gathered  from  various  quarters.  In  the 
years  of  cholera,  when  this  frightful  disease  nearly  decimated 
the  population  of  some  of  the  principal  cities  in  the  world,  it 
was  invariably  found  that  the  deaths  were  more  numerous  in 
-narrow  streets  and  northern  exposures,  where  the  salutary 
beams  of  light  and  actinism  had  seldom  shed  their  beneficial 
influences.  The  resistless  epidemic  found  an  easy  prey 
among  a  people  whose  physical  organization  had  not  been 
matured  under  those  benign  influences  of  solar  radiation 
which  shed  health  and  happiness  over  our  fertile  plains,  our 
open  valleys,  and  those  mountain  sides  and  elevated  plateaus 
where  man  is  permitted  to  breathe  in  the  brighter  regions  of 
the  atmosphere. 

Had  we  the  means  of  investigating  the  history  of  dungeon 
life — of  those  noble  martyrs  whom  ecclesiastical  and  political 
tyranny  have  immured  in  darkness — or  of  those  wicked  men 


LIGHT.  447 

whom  law  and  justice  have  rendered  it  indispensable  to  sep- 
arate from  their  species,  we  should  find  many  examples  of 
the  terrible  effects  which  have  been  engendered  by  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  those  influences  which  we  have  shown  to  be  neces- 
sary for  the  nutrition  and  development,  not  only  of  plants, 
but  of  many  of  the  lower  animals. 

Dr.  Edwards,  whose  experiments  on  animals  we  have  al- 
ready referred  to,  applies  to  man  the  principles  which  he 
deduced  from  them  ;  and  he  maintains  even,  that  in  "  climates 
in  which  nudity  is  not  incompatible  with  health,  the  exposure 
of  the  whole  surface  of  the  body  to  light  will  be  very  favora- 
ble to  the  regular  conformation  of  the  body."  In  support  of 
this  opinion,  he  quotes  a  remarkable  passage  from  Baron 
Humboldt's  Voyage  to  the  Equatorial  Regions  of  the  Globe, 
in  which  he  is  speaking  of  the  people  called  Chaymas : 
a  Both  men  and  women,"  h-e  says,  "are  very  muscular;  their 
forms  are  fleshy  and  rounded.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  I 
have  not  seen  a  single  individual  with  a  natural  deformity. 
I  can  say  the  same  of  many  thousands  of  Caribs,  Muyscas, 
and  Mexican  and  Peruvian  Indians,  whom  we  observed  dur- 
ing five  years.  Deformities  and  deviations  are  exceedingly 
rare  in  certain  races  of  men,  especially  those  who  have  the 
skin  strongly  colored." 

If  light  thus  develops  in  certain  races  the  perfect  type  of 
the  adult  who  has  grown  under  its  influence,  we  can  hardly 
avoid  the  conclusion  drawn  by  Dr.  Edwards  "  that  the  want 
of  sufficient  light  must  constitute  one  of  the  external  causes 
which  produce  those  deviations  in  form  in  children  affected 
with  scrofula ;  and  the  more  so,  as  it  has  been  generally  ob- 
served that  this  disease  is  most  prevalent  in  poor  children 
living  in  confined  and  dark  streets."  Following  out  the  same 


448 

principle,  Dr.  Edwards  "  infers  that,  in  cases  where  these  de- 
formities do  not  appear  incurable,  exposure  to  the  sun  in  the 
open  air  is  one  of  the  means  tending  to  restore  a  good  con- 
formation. It  is  true,"  he  adds,  "  that  the  light  which  falls 
upon  our  clothes  acts  only  by  the  heat  which  it  occasions,  but. 
the  exposed  parts  receive  the  peculiar  influence  of  the  light. 
Among  these  parts  we  must  certainly  regard  the  eyes  as  not 
merely  designed  to  enable  us  to  perceive  color,  form,  and 
size.  Their  exquisite  sensibility  to  light  must  render  them 
peculiarly  adapted  to  transmit  the  influence  of  this  agent 
throughout  the  system ;  and  we  know  that  the  impression  of 
even  a  moderate  light  upon  these  organs  produces  in  several 
acute  diseases  a  general  exacerbation  of  symptoms." 

The  idea  of  light  passing  into  the  system  through  the  eyes, 
and  influencing  the  other  functions  of  the  body,  though  at 
first  startling,  merits,  doubtless,  the  attention  of  physiologists. 
The  light  and  heat  and  chemical  rays  of  the  sun,  combined  in 
every  picture  on  the  retina,  necessarily  pass  to  the  brain 
through  the  visual  nerves  ;  and,  as  the  luminous  rays  only 
are  concerned  in  vision,  we  can  hardly  conceive  that  the 
chemical  and  heating  rays  have  no  function  whatever  to  per- 
form. 

If  the  light  of  day,  then,  freely  admitted  into  out  apart- 
ments, is  essential  to  the  development  of  the  human  form, 
physical  and  mental,  and  if  the  same  blessed  element  lends 
its  aid  to  art  and  nature  in  the  cure  of  disease,  it  becomes  a 
personal  and  a  national  duty  to  construct  our  dwelling-houses, 
our  schools,  our  work-shops,  our  churches,  our  villages,  and 
our  cities  upon  such  principles  and  in  such  styles  of  architec- 
ture as  will  allow  the  life-giving  element  to  have  the  fullest 
and  the  freest  ingress,  and  to  chase  from  every  crypt  and 


LIGHT.  449 

cell  and  corner  the  elements  of  uncleanliness  and  corruption 
which  have  a  vested  interest  in  darkness. 

Although  we  have  not,  like  Howard,  visited  the  prisons  and 
lazarettos  of  cur  own  and  foreign  countries  in  order  to  num- 
ber and  describe  the  dungeons  and  caverns  in  which  the  vic- 
tims of  political  power  are  perishing  without  light  and  air,  yet 
we  have  examined  private  houses  and  inns,  and  even  palaces, 
in  which  there  are  many  occupied  apartments  equally  devoid 
of  light  and  ventilation.  In  some  of  the  principal  cities  of 
Europe,  and  in  many  of  the  finest  towns  of  Italy,  where  ex- 
ternal nature  smiles  in  her  brightest  attire,  there  are  streets 
and  lanes  in  such  close  compression,  the  houses  on  one  side 
almost  touching  those  of  the  other,  that  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  human  beings  are  neither  supplied  with  light  nor  with  air, 
and  are  compelled  to  carry  on  their  professions  in  what  seems 
to  a  stranger  almost  total  darkness.  Providence,  more 
beneficent  than  man,  has  provided  a  means  of  lighting  up  to 
a  certain  extent  the  workman's  home  by  the  expanding  power 
of  the  pupil  of  his  eye  in  order  to  admit  a  greater  quantity 
of  rays,  and  by  an  increased  sensibility  of  his  retina,  which 
renders  visible  what  is  feebly  illuminated  ;  but  the  very  exer- 
cise of  such  powers  is  painful  and  insalutary,  and  every  at- 
tempt that  is  made  to  see  when  seeing  is  an  effort,  or  to  read 
and  work  with  a  straining  eye  and  an  erring  hand,  is  injuri- 
ous to  the  organ  of  vision,  and  must  sooner  or  later  impair 
its  powers.  Thus  deprived  of  the  light  of  day,  thousands  are 
obliged  to  carry  on  their  trades  principally  by  artificial  light 
— by  the  consumption  of  tallow,  oil,  or  carburetted  hydrogen 
gas — thus  inhaling  from  morning  till  midnight  the  offensive 
odors,  and  breathing  the  polluted  effluvia  which  are  more  or 
less  the  products  of  artificial  illumination. 
29 


45o 

It  is  in  vain  to  expect  that  such  evils,  shortening  and  ren- 
dering miserable  the  life  of  man,  can  be  removed  by  legisla- 
tion or  by  arbitrary  power.  Attempts  are  gradually  being 
made  in  various  great  cities  to  replace  their  densely  congre- 
gated streets  and  dwellings  by  structures  at  once  ornamental 
and  salutary ;  and  Europe  is  now  admiring  that  great  reno- 
vation in  a  neighboring  capital,  by  which  hundreds  of  streets 
and  thousands  of  dwellings,  once  the  seat  of  poverty  and 
crime,  are  now  replaced  by  architectural  combinations  the 
most  beautiful,  and  by  hotels  and  palaces  which  vie  with  the 
finest  edifices  of  Greek  or  of  Roman  art. 

These  great  improvements,  however,  are  necessarily  local 
and  partial,  and  centuries  must  pass  away  before  we  can  ex- 
pect  those  revolutions  in  our  domestic  and  city  architecture 
under  which  the  masses  of  the  people  will  find  a  cheerful  and 
well-lighted  and  well-ventilated  home.  We  must,  therefore, 
attack  the  evil  as  it  exists,  and  call  upon  science  to  give  us 
such  a  remedy  as  she  can  supply.  Science  does  possess 
such  a  remedy,  which,  however,  has  its  limits,  but  within  those 
limits  her  principles  and  methods  are  unquestionable  and 
efficacious. 

Wherever  there  is  a  window  there  is  light,  which  it  is  in- 
tended to  admit.  In  narrow  streets  and  lanes  this  portion  of 
light  comes  from  the  sky,  and  its  value  as  an  illuminating 
agent  depends  on  its  magnitude  or  area,  and  on  its  varying 
distances  from  the  sun  in  its  daily  path.  But  whether  it  be 
large  or  small,  bright  or  obscure,  it  is  the  only  source  of  light 
which  any  window  can  command ;  and  the  problem  which 
science  pretends  to  solve  is  to  throw  into  the  dark  apartment 
as  much  light  as  possible — all  the  light,  indeed,  excepting  that 
which  is  necessarily  lost  in  the  process  employed.  Let  us 


LIGHT.  45 1 

suppose  that  the  street  is  a  fathom  wide  or  two  yards,  and 
that  the  two  opposite  faces  of  it  are  of  such  a  nature  that  we 
can  see  out  of  a  window  a  considerable  portion  of  the  sky 
two  yards  wide.  Now,  the  lintel  of  the  window  generally 
projects  six  or  eight  inches  beyond  the  outer  surface  of  the 
panes  of  glass,  so  that  if  the  window  is  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance below  the  luminous  portion  of  the  sky,  not  a  single  ray 
from  that  portion  can  fall  upon  the  panes  of  the  glass.  If 
we  suppose  the  panes  of  glass  to  be  made  flush  with  the  outer 
wall,  rays  from  every  part  of  the  luminous  space  will  fall  upon 
the  outer  surface  of  the  glass,  but  so  obliquely  that  it  will  be 
nearly  all  reflected,  and  the  small  portion  which  does  pass 
through  the  glass  will  have  no  illuminating  power,  as  it  must 
fall  upon  the  surface  of  the  stone  lintel  on  which  the  window 
now  rests.  If  we  now  remove  our  window  and  substitute 
another  in  which  all  the  panes  of  glass  are  roughly  ground 
on  their  outside,  and  flush  with  the  outer  wall,  a  mass  of  light 
will  be  introduced  into  the  apartment,  reflected  from  the  in- 
numerable faces  or  facets  which  the  rough  grinding  of  the 
glass  has  produced.  The  whole  window  will  appear  as  if  the 
sky  were  beyond  it,  and  from  every  point  of  this  luminous 
surface  light  will  radiate  into  all  parts  of  the  room.  The  ef- 
fect thus  obtained  might  be  greatly  increased  were  we  per- 
mitted to  allow  the  lower  part  of  the  window  to  be  placed 
beyond  the  face  of  the  wall,  and  thus  give  the  ground  surface 
of  the  panes  such  an  inclined  position  as  to  enable  them  to 
catch  a  larger  portion  of  the  sky.  The  plates  or  sheets  of 
glass  which  should  be  employed  in  this  process  may  be  so 
corrugated  on  one  side  as  even  to  throw  in  light  that  had  suf- 
fered total  reflection.  In  aid  of  this  method  of  distributing 
light,  it  would  be  advisable  to  have  the  opposite  faces  of  the 


452 


LIGHT. 


street,  even  to  the  chimney-tops,  whitewashed  and  kept  white 
with  lime ;  and  for  the  same  reason,  the  ceiling  and  walls  and 
flooring  of  the  apartment  should  be  as  white  as  possible,  and 
all  the  furniture  of  the  lightest  colors.  Having  seen  such 
effects  produced  by  imperfect  means,  we  feel  as  if  we  had 
introduced  our  poor  workman  or  needle-woman  from  a  dun- 
geon into  a  summer-house.  By  pushing  out  the  windows, 
we  have  increased  the  quantity  of  air  which  they  breathe,  and 
we  have  enabled  the  housemaid  to  look  into  dark  corners, 
where  there  had  hitherto  nestled  all  the  elements  of  corrup- 
tion. To  these  inmates  the  sun  had  risen  sooner  and  set 
later,  and  the  midnight  lamp  is  no  longer  lighted  when  all 
Nature  is  smiling  under  the  blessed  influence  of  day. 

But  it  is  not  merely  to  the  poor  man's  home  that  these  pro- 
cesses are  applicable.  In  all  great  towns,  where  neither  pal- 
aces nor  houses  can  be  insulated,  there  are,  in  almost  every 
edifice,  dark  and  gloomy  crypts  thirsting  for  light ;  and  in  the 
city  of  London  there  are  warehouses  and  places  of  business 
where  the  light  of  day  almost  never  enters.  On  visiting  a 
friend,  whose  duty  confined  him  to  his  desk  during  the  offi- 
cial part  of  the  day,  we  found  him  with  bleared  eyes,  strug- 
gling against  the  feeble  light  which  the  opposite  wall  threw 
into  his  window.  We  counselled  him  to  extend  a  blind  of 
fine  white  muslin  on  the  outside  of  his  window  and  flush  with 
the  wall.  The  experiment  was  soon  made.  The  light  of  the 
sky  above  was  caught  by  the  fibres  of  the  linen  and  thrown 
straight  upon  his  writing-table  as  if  it  had  been  reflected 
from  an  equal  surface  of  ground  glass.  We  recollect  another 
case  equally  illustrative  of  our  process.  A  party  visiting  the 
mausoleum  of  a  Scottish  nobleman  wished  to  see  the  gilded 
receptacles  of  the  dead  which  occupied  its  interior.  There 


LIGHT.  453 

was  only  one  small  window  through  which  the  light  entered, 
but  it  did  not  fall  upon  the  objects  that  were  to  be  examined. 
Upon  stretching  a  muslin  handkerchief  from  its  four  corners, 
it  threw  such  a  quantity  of  light  into  the  crypt  as  to  display 
fully  its  contents. 

But  while  our  process  of  illuminating  dark  apartments  is  a 
great  utilitarian  agent,  it  is  also  an  aesthetical  power  of  some 
value,  enabling  the  architect  to  give  the  full  effect  of  his  de- 
sign to  the  external  fagade  of  his  building  without  exhibiting 
to  the  public  eye  any  of  the  vulgar  arrangements  which  are 
required  in  its  interior.  The  National  Picture  Gallery  of 
Edinburgh,  erected  on  the  Mound,  from  the  beautiful  designs 
of  the  late  W.  H.  Playfair,  is  lighted  from  above  ;  but  there 
are  certain  small  apartments  on  the  west  side  of  the  building 
which  cannot  be  thus  lighted,  and  these  being  very  useful  the 
architect  was  obliged  to  light  them  by  little  windows  in  the 
western  facade.  These  windows  are  dark  gashes  in  the  wall, 
about  two  feet  high  and  one  foot  broad,  and  being  unfortu- 
nately placed  near  the  Ionic  portico,  the  principal  feature  of 
the  building,  they  entirely  destroy  the  symmetry  and  beauty 
of  its  western  fagade.  Had  there  been  no  science  in  Edin- 
burgh to  give  counsel  on  this  occasion,  the  architect  should 
have  left  his  little  apartments  to  the  tender  mercies  of  gas  or 
oil ;  but  science  had  a  complete  remedy  for  the  evil,  and  in 
the  hope  that  the  two  distinguished  individuals  who  have  the 
charge  of  the  Gallery,  Sir  John  Watson  Gordon  and  Mr.  D. 
O.  Hill,  will  immediately  apply  it,  we  now  offer  to  them  the 
process  without  a  fee. 

Send  a  piece  of  the  freestone  to  the  Messrs.  Chances,  of 
the  Smethwick  Glass  Works,  near  Birmingham,  and  order 
sheets  of  thick  plate-glass  the  exact  size  of  the  present  open- 


454 


LIGHT. 


ing,  and  of  such  a  color  that  when  one  side  of  the  glass  is 
ground  the  ground  side  will  have  precisely  the  same  color  as 
the  freestone.  When  the  openings  are  filled  with  these 
plates,  having  the  ground  side  outward,  the  black  gashes  will 
disappear,  the  apartment  will  be  better  lighted  than  before, 
and  the  building  will  assume  its  true  architectural  character. 
The  plates  of  glass  thus  inserted  among  the  stones  may, 
when  viewed  at  a  short  distance,  show  their  true  outline  ;  but 
this  could  not  have  happened  if,  during  the  building  of  the 
wall,  one,  two,  or  three  of  the  stones  had  been  left  out  and  re- 
placed by  plates  of  glass  of  exactly  the  same  size  as  the 
stones.  This  method  of  illumination  will  enable  future  archi- 
tects to  illuminate  the  interior  of  their  buildings  by  invisible 
windows,  and  thus  give  to  the  exterior  facade  the  full  aestheti- 
cal  effect  of  their  design. 

If  it  is  important  to  obtain  a  proper  illumination  of  our 
apartments  when  the  sun  is  above  the  horizon,  it  is  doubly 
important  when  he  has  left  us  altogether  to  a  short-lived 
twilight,  or  consigned  us  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  moon. 
In  the  one  case  it  is  chiefly  in  ill-constructed  dwelling-houses 
and  large  towns  and  cities  where  a  dense  population,  crowded 
into  a  limited  area,  occupy  streets  and  lanes  in  almost  abso- 
lute darkness,  that  science  is  called  upon  for  her  aid  ;  but  in 
the  other,  we  demand  from  her  the  best  system  of  artificial 
illumination,  under  which  we  must  spend  nearly  one-third  of 
our  lives,  whether  they  are  passed  in  the  cottage  or  in  the 
palace,  in  the  open  village  or  in  the  crowded  city. 

When  we  pass  from  the  flickering  flame  of  a  wood  fire  to 
rods  of  pine-root  charged  with  turpentine — from  the  cylinder 
of  tallow  to  the  vase  filled  with  oil — from  the  wax  lights  to 

o 

the  flame  of  gas,  and  from  the  latter  to  the  electric  li^ht — we 


LIGHT.  455 

see  the  rapid  stride  which  art  and  science  have  taken  in  the 
illumination  of  our  houses  and  streets.  We  have  obtained  a 
sufficient  source  of  light;  we  require  only  to  use  it  safely, 
economically,  and  salubriously.  The  method  which  we  mean 
not  only  to  recommend,  but  to  press  upon  the  public  atten- 
tion, unites  the  three  qualities  which  are  essential  in  house 
illumination  ;  but  till  our  legislators  and  architects  and  the 
leaders  of  public  opinion  shall  be  more  alive  to  the  import- 
ance of  scientific  truths  in  their  practical  phase,  we  have  no 
hope  of  being  honored  with  their  support.  True  knowledge, 
however,  advances  with  time.  Vulgar  prejudices  are  gradu- 
ally worn  down  ;  and  in  less  than  a  century,  whether  we  have 
the  electric  light  or  not,  we  shall  have  our  artificial  suns  shed- 
ding their  beneficent  rays  under  the  guidance  of  science. 

The  present  method  of  lighting  our  houses,  by  burning  the 
lights  within  its  apartments,  is  attended  with  many  evils.  The 
intolerable  increase  of  temperature  in  well-lighted  rooms, 
whether  they  are  occupied  by  small  or  large  parties — the 
rapid  consumption  of  the  oxygen  which  our  respiratory  sys- 
tem requires  to  be  undiminished — the  offensive  smell  of  un- 
consumed  gas — the  stench  of  the  oleaginous  products  of 
combustion — the  damage  done  to  gilded  furniture  and  picture 
frames — the  positive  injury  inflicted  on  the  eyes,  by  the  action 
of  a  number  of  scattered  lights  upon  the  retina — and  the 
risks  of  fire  and  explosion  are  strong  objections  to  the  sys- 
tem of  internal  illumination.  About  half  a  century  ago,  the 
writer  of  this  article  proposed  to  illuminate  our  houses  by 
burning  the  gas  externally,  or  placing  it  within  the  walls  of 
the  house,  or  in  any  other  way  by  which  the  products  of  com- 
bustion should  not  vitiate  the  air  of  the  apartment.  The 
plan  was  received  with  a  smile.  It  had  not  even  the  honor 


456  LIGHT. 

of  being  ridiculed.  It  was  too  Quixotic  to  endanger  existing 
interests  or  trench  upon  vested  rights.  Owing  to  the  ex- 
tended use  of  gas,  however,  its  evils  became  more  generally 
felt ;  but  no  attempt  was  made  to  alter  the  existing  system 
till  1839,  when  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  was 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  best  method  of  lighting  the 
House.  Many  eminent  individuals  were  examined  ;  and  in 
consequence  of  the  report  of  the  committee,  the  new  system 
was  adopted  of  lighting  from  without,  or  in  which  the  air 
breathed  by  the  members  is  entirely  separated  from  the  air 
which  supplies  the  burners.  A  similar  change  has,  we  be- 
lieve, been  made  in  the  mode  of  lighting  the  House  of  Lords, 
but  the  new  system  in  its  most  general  aspect  has  been  ad- 
mirably carried  out  in  one  or  more  apartments  in  Bucking- 
ham Palace,  where  the  light  is  distributed  from  the  roof,  as  if 
from  the  sky  above,  without  any  of  the  sources  of  light  being 
visible.  This  method,  of  course,  can  be  adopted  only  in  halls 
or  apartments  with  an  external  roof.  In  all  other  cases,  con- 
siderable difficulties  must  be  encountered  in  houses  already 
built  and  occupied ;  but  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  ingenuity 
of  the  engineer  and  the  architect  will  overcome  them,  whether 
the  system  is  to  be  accommodated  to  old  buildings  or  applied  in 
its  most  perfect  state  to  houses  erected  on  purpose  to  receive 
it.  But,  however  great  be  these  difficulties,  it  is  fortunate 
that  whether  we  are  to  have  the  advantage  of  the  electric 
light  or  a  purer  form  of  carbu retted  hydrogen  gas,  the  mode 
of  distributing  it  will  be,  generally  speaking,  the  same,  and 
we  therefore  need  not  hesitate  to  introduce  the  new  system 
on  the  ground  that  it  may  be  superseded  by  another. 

Having  so  recently  escaped  from  the  inhumanity  of  a  tax 
which  prohibited  the  light  and  air  of  heaven   from   entering 


LIGHT.  457 

our  dwellings,  we  trust  that  the  governments  of  Europe  will 
freely  throw  these  precious  influences  into  the  dark  abodes 
of  their  overcrowded  cities,  and  that  wealthy  and  philan- 
thropic individuals  will  set  the  example  of  lighting,  heating, 
and  ventilating  according  to  the  principles  of  science.  Dr. 
Arnott  has  already  taught  us  how  to  heat  our  apartments 
with  coal  fires  without  breathing  either  the  gases  or  the  dust 
which  they  diffuse.  Why  should  we  delay  to  light  them  with- 
out breathing  the  noxious  gas,  and  overlaying  the  organs  of 
respiration  with  the  nameless  poisons  which  are  generated  in 
the  combustion  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  substances  em- 
ployed in  the  furnishing  of  our  apartments  ? 

II.  Having  thus  treated  of  the  element  of  light  in  its  sana- 
tory relations,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  it  in  its  scien- 
tific aspect.  We  do  not  propose  to  write  an  essay  on  optics ; 
our  sole  object  is  to  show  to  the  unscientific  reader  how  much 
interesting  knowledge  may  be  conveyed  to  him  on  subjects 
which  he  has  hitherto  shunned  as  beyond  his  depth.  Though 
thirsting  for  scientific  knowledge,  he  may  have  neither  time 
nor  taste  for  the  perusal  even  of  a  popular  treatise,  and  yet 
be  delighted  with  instructive  and  memorable  facts  which  can 
be  interpreted  by  the  eye,  and  with  large  views  of  the  mate- 
rial world,  which  sometimes  startle  reason,  and  "  make  even 
the  simple  wise." 

How  few  ever  ask  themselves  the  question,  What  is  light  ? 
And  how  few  could  give  a  rational  answer  to  it  if  put  by 
their  children  !  In  a  room  absolutely  dark  there  is  obviously 
no  light.  The  moment  we  light  a  gas-burner  or  a  candle 
light  streams  from  it  in  all  directions  as  if  it  were  something 
material,  but  diminishing  in  brightness  more  rapidly  than  the 
distance  increases — that  is,  at  twice  the  distance  from  the 


458 


LIGHT. 


burner  it  is  four  times  weaker,  at  thrice  the  distance  nine 
times  weaker,  and  at  four  times  the  distance  sixteen  times 
weaker.  Philosophers  describe  this  property  of  light  by 
saying  that  it  varies  as  the  square  of  the  distance  from  the 
burner — four,  nine,  and  sixteen,  the  degrees  of  brightness 
being  the  squares  of  the  distances  two,  three,  and  four. 

If  light  consists  of  material  particles  issuing  from  the  sun 
or  an  artificial  flame,  we  might  expect  to  feel  them  imping- 
ing upon  our  tender  skins,  as  we  sometimes  think  we  feel 
them  on  the  retina  when  the  eyes  are  extremely  sensitive  to 
the  faintest  light.  If  we  open  a  bottle  of  musk  in  a  very 
large  apartment,  the  odoriferous  particles  immediately  stream 
from  it  in  all  directions,  but  though  they  are  really  material, 
they  neither  affect  the  skin  nor  any  other  nerves  but  those  of 
smell,  and  yet  their  size  must  be  incomparably  greater  than 
those  of  light,  which  pass  through  glass  and  all  transparent 
bodies  whatever. 

It  was  the  earliest  opinion  of  philosophers — that  of  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  Laplace,  and  others — that  light  does  consist 
of  material  particles,  emitted  from  luminous  bodies,  thrown  off 
from  them  by  some  force  or  power  of  which  we  know  nothing, 
and  reflected  from  the  surfaces  of  all  ordinary  bodies,  but  a 
number  of  very  remarkable  experiments,  made  chiefly  in  our 
own  day  have  led  many  philosophers  to  believe  that  light  con- 
sists in  the  vibrations  or  undulations  excited  by  luminous 
bodies  in  a  medium  called  the  luminiferous  ether,  which  fills 
all  transparent  bodies,  and  extends  to  the  remotest  distances 
in  space.  It  is  supposed  to  be  analogous  to  sound,  which  is 
propagated  by  vibrations  or  undulations  in  air,  and  the  mode 
of  its  propagation  may  be  illustrated  by  the  beautiful  circular 
rings  or  waves  formed  on  the  surface  of  stagnant  water 


LIGHT.  459 

round  the  spot  where  a  stone  has  fallen  upon  it,  or,  what  is 
more  instructive,  by  the  motion  propagated  along  a  field  of 
growing  corn.  In  the  undulations  on  the  surface  of  water 
the  waves  do  not  advance,  as  they  appear  to  do,  but  merely 
rise  and  fall  without  carrying  forward  any  light  bodies  that 
may  be  floating  on  their  surface.  In  the  field  of  corn  the 
motion  passes  from  each  stalk  to  its  neighbor,  and  conse- 
quently there  is  nothing  moved  from  its  place,  a  motion 
merely  being  propagated  from  stalk  to  stalk,  as  it  may  be 
from  particle  to  particle  of  the  luminiferous  ether. 

Whether  we  adopt  the  emission  theory  of  Newton  or  the 
undulatory  theory  of  Hooke  and  Huygens  we  must  be 
startled  with  the  fact,  almost  incredible,  that  in  the  one  case 
the  material  particles  are  launched  through  space  from  all 
luminous  bodies  in  all  possible  directions  without  their  im- 
pinging on  one  another,  and  that  in  the  other  the  waves  or 
undulations  of  the  elastic  ether  are  circling  in  all  directions 
from  a  thousand  centres  without  being  defaced  or  obliterated. 
If  a  number  of  intense  odors  were  to  be  let  loose  from  the 
same  centre  they  would  soon  mutually  interfere,  and  the  fine 
waves  on  a  peaceful  lake  if  propagated  from  some  adjacent 
centres  would  soon  disturb  each  other  and  disappear.  It  is 
otherwise,  however,  with  the  radiant  locomotives  of  light. 
Whether  they  be  material  particles  or  the  vibrations  of  an 
elastic  medium,  they  will  ever  carry,  without  the  risk  of  colli- 
sion, the  great  messages  of  the  universe, 

Now  it  is  obvious  that  if  any  visible  event  were  to  happen 
on  any  of  these  planets  or  stars  it  could  not  be  seen  by  us 
upon  the  earth  till  after  the  time  mentioned  in  the  table.  If 
the  nearest  fixed  star  were  to  be  destroyed  it  would  continue 
to  be  seen  by  us  for  forty-five  years  after  it  had  ceased  to 


46o 

exist,  the  last  rays  which  issued  from  it  requiring  that  time  to 
reach  the  earth.  In'like  manner,  if  our  earth  had  been  created 
six  thousand  years  ago  it  would  just  now  only  have  become 
visible  at  the  most  distant  star,  a  point  of  space  to  which 
light  takes  six  thousand  years  to  travel. 

These  facts  may  be  of  some  use  to  such  of  our  readers  as 
are  familiar  with  certain  recent  speculations,  which  have  as 
much  science  as  to  amuse  us  and  as  much  fancy  as  to  mislead 
us.  The  ingenious  author  of  a  little  work,  entitled,  The  Stars 
and  the  Earth  asserts  that  "pictures  of  every  occurrence 
propagate  themselves  into  the  distant  ether  upon  the  wings 
of  the  ray  of  light,  and  though  they  become  weaker  and 
smaller,  yet  at  immeasurable  distances  they  still  have  color 
and  form,  and  as  everything  possessing  color  and  form  is 
visible,  so  must  these  pictures  also  be  said  to  be  visible,  how- 
ever impossible  it  may  be  for  the  human  eye  to  perceive* 
them  with  the  hitherto  discovered  optical  instruments."  "  The 
universe,  therefore,  incloses  the  picture  of  the  past  like  an 
indestructible  and  incorruptible  record,  containing  the  purest 
and  the  clearest  truth."  The  grave  and  pious  Principal 
Hitchcock,  taking  up  these  views,  has  carried  them  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  science  and  common  sense.  The 
anonymous  writer  wants  only  new  optical  instruments,  but 
the  divine  tells  us  "  that  there  may  be  in  the  universe  created 
beings  with  powers  of  vision  acute  enough  to  take  in  all  these 
pictures  of  our  world's  history,  as  they  make  the  circuit  of  the 
numberless  suns  and  planets  that  lie  enbosomed  in  boundless 
space.  Suppose  that  such  a  being  is  at  this  moment  upon  a 
star  of  the  twelfth  magnitude  with  an  eye  turned  toward  the 
earth.  He  might  see  the  deluge  of  Noah  just  sweeping  over 
the  surface.  Advancing  to  a  nearer  star  he  would  see  the 


LIGHT.  46l 

Patriarch  Abraham  going  out,  not  knowing  whither  he  went. 
Coming  still  nearer,  the  vision  of  the  crucified  Redeemer 
would  meet  his  gaze.  Coming  nearer  still,  he  might  alight 
upon  worlds  where  all  the  revolutions  and  convulsions  of 
modern  times  would  fall  upon  his  eye.  Indeed,  there  are 
worlds  enough,  and  at  the  right  distances  in  the  vast  empy- 
rean to  show  him  every  event  in  human  history." 

The  anonymous  speculator  tells  us  that  there  are  pictures 
of  every  occurrence  inclosed  by  the  universe  on  indestruc- 
tible tablets,  but  he  does  not  tell  us  what  lens  separates  one 
picture  from  the  infinite  number  of  them  which  must  exist, 
nor  what  is  the  tablet  on  which  it  is  depicted,  so  that,  grant- 
ing him  his  instruments,  he  himself  could  not  tell  us  when 
and  how  to  apply  them,  or  what  they  would  exhibit.  Let  Dr. 
Hitchcock,  too,  have  his  "  created  beings  "  with  the  highest 
powers  of  vision,  and  place  them  on  a  star  which  the  rays 
proceeding  from  Noah's  deluge,  sweeping  over  the  earth, 
may  just  have  reached.  He  forgets  that  the  earth  is  revolving 
about  its  axis  and  moving  round  the  sun — that  clouds  and 
darkness  are  periodically  covering  its  visible  hemisphere — 
that  "every  event  in  human  history"  does  not  occur  in  open 
day,  and  could  not  be  seen  by  a  contemporary  observer 
placed  anywhere  above  the  earth's  surface ;  and,  therefore, 
that  all  his  speculations  have  not  only  no  foundation  in  sci- 
ence, but  no  meaning  in  sense. .  The  only  truth  which  they 
so  elaborately  overlay  is  that  there  are  stars  in  the  universe 
so  remote  from  the  earth,  or  from  each  other,  that  the  light 
of  the  one  cannot  reach  the  other  till  after  the  lapse  of  a 
great  number  of  years — a  simple  corollary  from  the  fact  that 
light  moves  with  the  velocity  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-two 
thousand  five  hundred  miles  in  a  second.  Not  content,  how- 


462  LIGHT. 

ever,  with  torturing  this  little  truth,  he  calls  in  the  aid  of  elec- 
tric reactions,  odylic  reaction,  chemical  reaction,  organic  reaction, 
mental  reaction,  geological  reaction,  all  words  without  meaning, 
in  order  to  prove — first,  that  our  minutest  actions,  and  per- 
haps our  thoughts,  from  day  to  day,  are  known  throughout 
the  universe !  and,  second,  that  in  a  future  state,  the  power 
of  reading  the  past  history  of  the  world,  and  of  individuals, 
may  be  possessed  by  man  ! 

Next  in  popular  interest  to  the  almost  inconceivable  veloc- 
ity of  light  is  the  number  of  influences  or  elements  of  which 
a  white  beam  of  the  sun's  light  is  composed.  It  had  always 
been  supposed  that  the  sun's  light  was  perfectly  white,  heat- 
ing as  well  as  illuminating,  every  substance  on  which  it  fell ; 
and  that  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  and  of  all  natural  bodies, 
were  changes  produced  somehow  or  other  upon  white  light, 
or  were  caused  by  the  mixture  of  white  light  with  different 
degrees  or  kinds  of  blackness.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  found, 
however,  that  white  light  consists  of  red,  orange,  yellow,  green, 
blue,  indigo,  and  violet  light  in  certain  proportions,  and  that 
the  white  light  which  we  see  is  a  mixture  of  all  these  seven 
colors.  If  by  any  means  we  remove  the  red  color,  then  the 
mixture  of  all  the  other  colors  will  not  be  white,  but  have  a 
blue  tint ;  and  if  by  any  means  we  can  take  away  the  blue 
rays,  the  mixture  of  all  the  rest  will  be  reddish  or  yellow. 
In  like  manner,  if  we  remove  or  extinguish  out  of  a  beam  of 
white  light  any  one  of  the  seven  colors,  or  any  part  of  one  of 
the  colors,  the  light  will  be  no  longer  white,  but  red  or  red- 
dish, yellow  or  yellowish,  or  blue  or  bluish,  according  to  the 
color  or  the  quantity  of  it  that  has  been  removed. 

Now,  all  the  leaves  of  plants  and  flowers,  and  all  natural 
bodies  whatever,  have  the  power  of  absorbing  every  sort  of 


LIGHT.  463 

light  which  falls  upon  them,  except  light  of  their  own  color, 
which  they  reflect  or  radiate.  When  the  sun's  white  falls 
upon  the  red  petal  of  the  scarlet  geranium,  the  petal  absorbs 
nearly  all  the  other  six  colors  which  exist  in  the  white  light, 
and  reflects  only  the  red.  In  like  manner,  when  the  sun's 
light  falls  upon  the  blue  petal  of  the  tradescantia  virginicay 
the  petal  absorbs  nearly  all  the  other  rays,  and  reflects  only 
the  blue.  That  the  red  petal  of  the  geranium,  and  the  blue 
petal  of  the  tradescantia,  are  not  in  themselves  red  and  blue  is 
evident  from  this,  that  if  we  throw  upon  them  any  other  light, 
they  will  each  appear  black — that  is,  they  derive  their  red  and 
blue  light  solely  from  their  reflecting  the  red  and  blue  rays, 
which  form  part  of  the  white  light  of  the  sun.  Now  these 
statements  are  perfectly  true,  if  the  red  color  of  the  petal  in 
the  one  plant,  and  the  blue  color  of  the  petal  in  the  other, 
were  the  pure  red  and  blue  colors  of  the  sun's  light ;  but  they 
never  are  so  exactly,  so  that,  when  other  colors  than  red  fall 
upon  the  red  petal,  it  is  not  black,  but  of  a  dark  color ;  and 
when  other  colors  than  blue  fall  upon  the  blue  petal,  it  is  not 
black,  but  of  a  dark  color — a  result  which  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
thus  expresses :  "  The  colors  of  all  neutral  bodies  have  no 
other  origin  than  this,  that  they  are  variously  qualified  to 
reflect  one  sort  of  light  in  greater  plenty  than  another." 

These  observations  of  the  origin  of  colors,  and  of  the  com- 
position of  white  light,  enable  us  to  initiate  the  general  reader 
into  the  subject  of  the  harmony  of  colors,  a  species  of  knowl- 
edge easily  acquired,  and  of  essential  importance  in  the  art 
of  painting,  and  in  all  the  decorative  arts.  In  studying  the 
works  of  the  ancient  masters,  it  is  obvious  that  they  were  not 
acquainted  with  the  true  principles  of  harmonious  coloring; 
and,  in  modern  times,  we  know  of  no  artist  but  Mulready 


464 


LIGHT. 


who  has  evinced  in  his  work  anything  like  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  subject.  Without  descending  into  particulars, 
we  state  that  red  and  green  are  harmonic  colors,  and  blue  and 
yellow.  If  the  red  verges  upon  the  orange,  the  green  must 
be  bluish- green,  and  if  the  blue  verges  upon  green,  its  har- 
monic yellow  must  verge  upon  orange.  The  reason  why  these 
colors  harmonize  with  each  other  is  that  red  and  green,  and 
blue  and  yellow  make  white  light,  for  the  same  reason  any 
number  of  colors  in  a  painting  would  be  harmonious,  pro- 
vided they  are  in  such  proportions  as  to  make  white  light. 
This,  of  course,  is  true  only  as  a  general  principle ;  for  if  the 
painting  represented  a  brilliant  sunset,  there  must  be  a  pre- 
dominance of  red.  In  order  to  explain  why  harmonic  colors 
should,  when  combined,  make  white  light,  we  must  refer  to 
the  curious  physiological  fact  that  when  the  eye  is  strongly 
impressed  with  any  one  color,  it  sees  at  the  same  time  its 
harmonic  color,  or  the  color  required  to  make  white  light. 
If  you  look  steadily  upon  a  red  wafer  upon  a  white  ground 
for  a  few  seconds,  and  turn  the  eye  aside,  you  will  see  a  green 
wafer.  If  you  are  in  a  room  where  the  light  of  the  sun  passes 
through  a  bright  red  curtain,  any  hole  or  opening  in  the  cur- 
tain will  appear  green.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  the  eye  is 
rendered  less  sensible  to  red  light  by  looking  at  the  curtain, 
and,  therefore,  seeing  less  of  red,  which  is  in  the  white  light 
of  the  hole  or  opening,  the  whole  appears  green.  If  a  pic- 
ture is  painted  with  two  leading  colors  which  are  not  har- 
monic— suppose  bright  red  and  bright  blue — then  it  is  obvious 
that  after  the  eye  has  been  fixed  on  the  red  part,  it  will  see 
green,  and  this  green  will  appear  as  a  spot  on  the  blue  part 
of  the  picture ;  whereas,  if  the  two  colors  had  been  red  and 
green,  the  green  seen,  after  looking  at  the  red,  would  not 


LIGHT.  465 

appear  as  a  spot  on  the  real  green  of  the  picture.  When  two 
colors  are  harmonic,  and  placed  in  juxtaposition,  they  brighten 
one  another,  and  the  forms  to  which  the  colors  are  applied 
are  more  distinctly  seen.  If  the  hour  and  minute  hands  of  a 
public  clock,  for  example,  are  highly  gilt,  and  the  hours  gilt 
on  a  blue  ground,  the  time  will  be  more  distinctly  seen  than 
if  any  other  colors  had  been  employed. 

Another  department  of  optics  which  claims  the  notice  of 
the  general  reader  is  that  of  vision — the  way  which  we  see 
and  are  seen.  When  we  are  told  by  some  wise  people  that 
having  two  eyes  we  really  see  things  double,  though  we  have 
learned  to  consider  them  only  single,  and  that  we  actually 
see  objects  upside  down,  though  we  have  learned  from  ex- 
perience that  they  stand  upright,  it  is  high  time  that  we 
should  know  something  on  the  subject,  In  the  shutter  of  a 
dark  room  make  a  little  hole,  and  place  a  small  lens  in  it.  Be- 
hind the  lens  hold  a  sheet  of  paper,  and  you  will  see  the 
landscape  inverted,  and,  if  there  are  men  in  it,  you  will  see 
on  the  paper  their  heads  downward  and  their  feet  upward. 
This  is  the  case  in  the  human  eye ;  every  picture  painted  on 
the  retina  being  inverted  when  we  look  at  it  behind,  in  an 
eye  prepared  for  the  purpose.  But  if,  in  the  dark  room,  we 
place  an  eye  behind  the  head  of  an  inverted  figure,  and  look 
through  the  hole  or  lens,  we  shall  see  the  head  uppermost, 
and  if  we  place  the  eye  behind  the  foot  of  the  figure,  and 
look  through  the  hole  or  lens,  we  shall  see  the  feet  under- 
most, and  conclude  that  the  figure  is  correct.  Now,  the  eye 
is  so  constructed  that  every  point  of  an  image  painted  upon 
the  retina  is  seen  in  a  direction  perpendicular  to  the  point  of 
the  retina  upon  which  it  falls,  and  hence  it  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  have  an  inverted  picture  of  objects  on  the  retina  in 
30 


466 


LIGHT. 


order  to  see  them  erect.  With  regard  to  double  vision,  it 
is  quite  true  that  when  we  see  an  object  single,  we  see  two 
pictures  of  the  same  object,  one  with  each  eye  ;  but  every 
one  point  of  the  one  picture  is  seen  in  the  same  place  and 
direction  as  every  point  of  the  other,  and  therefore  the  two 
pictures  necessarily  appear  single  throughout.  If  we  had  not 
the  power,  by  the  muscles  of  our  eyes,  to  place  the  one  image 
exactly  upon  the  other,  the  two  pictures  would  be  visible.  If 
we  had  an  hundred  eyes  in  place  of  two,  and  the  power  of 
directing  their  axes  to  one  point,  we  should  still  see  only  one 
object. 

Of  all  the  triumphs  which  science  has  achieved  in  any  of 
its  departments,  the  most  magical,  and  the  one,  too,  least  un- 
derstood by  unscientific  persons,  are  the  powers  of  the  micro- 
scope and  telescope.  The  power  to  enlarge  a  thousand 
times  and  render  visible  the  minutest  parts  of  objects  whose 
very  existence  the  eye  cannot  discover ;  and  the  power  of 
magnifying  to  any  extent,  and  bring  within  the  scrutiny  of 
the  astronomer  planets  and  stars  and  other  celestial  objects 
which  the  sharpest  eye  cannot  descry  in  the  heavens.  It  is 
not  easy  to  explain  the  method  of  doing  this  without  dia- 
grams, but  a  sufficiently  intelligible  explanation  may  be  ob- 
tained from  well-known  properties  of  lenses.  If  we  place 
any  object  before  a  lens,  an  image  of  the  object  is  formed  be- 
hind it.  If  the  object  is  near  the  lens,  and  small,  the  image 
will  be  distant  and  large,  the  sizes  of  each  being  proportional 
to  their  distance  from  the  lens.  If  a  small  object,  invisible  to 
the  eye,  or  imperfectly  visible,  is  in  front  of  a  lens  and  placed 
near  it,  its  image  will  be  enlarged  so  as  to  make  it  visible ; 
and  by  looking  at  this  enlarged  image  with  another  lens  we 
may  magnify  it  much  more,  rendering  what  was  invisible  vis- 
ible, and  exhibiting  structures  unseen  by  the  eye. 


LIGHT.  467 

In  the  case  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  or  of  distant  objects  on 
our  own  globe,  we  cannot  bring  them  near  a  lens  so  as  to 
produce  an  enlarged  image  of  them  to  be  afterward  magni- 
fied. We  use,  however,  lenses  of  a  great  focal  length — that 
is,  which  form  their  image  at  a  great  distance  behind  them — 
and  these  images  of  distant  objects  are  much  larger  than  the 
small  images  of  them  formed  by  the  eye.  These  enlarged 
images  are  again  magnified  by  viewing  them  with  a  small  lens. 
But  as  light  is  always  lost  in  magnifying  an  object,  it  is  neces- 
sary, as  in  the  finest  achromatic  telescopes  of  glass,  to  have 
the  lenses  as  large  as  they  can  be  got,  eighteen  or  twenty 
inches  in  diameter,  to  admit  much  light;  and  in  the  reflecting 
telescope,  such  as  those  of  Lord  Rosse,  specula  have  been 
used  three  and  six  feet  in  diameter,  to  collect  light  enough  to 
enable  high  magnifying  powers  to  be  applied  to  the  images 
formed  in  the  focus  of  the  speculum. 

There  is  one  other  property  of  light,  discovered  in  our  own 
day,  of  which  it  behooves  every  person  to  have  some  knowl- 
edge, however  slight.  It  is  the  polarization  of  light,  a  re- 
markable property,  which  is  often  talked  of  by  persons  who 
do  not  know  even  the  meaning  of  the  name.  If  we  reflect  a 
ray  of  ordinary  light,  coming  either  from  the  sun  or  candle, 
from  the  surface  of  any  transparent  body,  solid  or  fluid,  at  an 
angle  between  fifty-three  and  sixty-eight  degrees — fifty-three 
degrees  for  water,  fifty-six  degrees  for  glass,  and  sixty-eight 
degrees  for  diamond — the  ray  of  light  so  reflected  is  polar- 
ized light.  Receive  the  polarized  ray — the  ray  polarized  by 
glass,  for  example — upon  another  plate  of  the  same  glass  at 
an  angle  of  fifty-six  degrees,  and  turn  the  plate  round  to  three 
hundred  and  sixty  degrees,  a  complete  circle,  keeping  the  ray 
always  incident  at  the  same  angle  of  fifty-six  degrees ;  you 


468 


LIGHT. 


will  observe  four  positions,  distant  ninety  degrees,  at  which 
the  light  disappears,  the  glass  being  unable  to  reflect  it,  and 
other  four  positions,  distant  forty-five  degrees  from  these,  and 
ninety  degrees  from  each  other,  where  the  light  reflected  is 
the  brightest;  the  light  reflected  in  all  other  positions  increas- 
ing from  the  dark  to  the  bright  position.  The  polarized  light, 
therefore,  possessing  these  properties  must  have  suffered 
some  remarkable  change  by  being  reflected  at  an  angle  of 
fifty-eight  degrees  from  the  glass ;  and  consequently  it  differs 
entirely  from  ordinary  light,  which  is  equally  reflected  from 
the  glass  during  the  rotation  of  the  glass  round  the  ray. 

Let  us  now  fix  these  two  plates  of  glass  so  that  ordinary 
light  falling  upon  the  first  plate  is  polarized,  and  place  the 
second  plate  in  one  of  the  four  positions  where  the  polarized 
ray  will  not  be  reflected,  and  the  flame  from  which  it  proceeds 
appears  as  a  black  spot  when  we  look  into  the  second  plate. 
In  this  simple  little  apparatus,  which  a  child  may  make,  we 
call  the  first  plate  of  glass  the  polarizer,  because  it  polarizes 
the  ordinary  light,  and  the  second  plate  the  analyzer,  for  rea- 
sons which  we  shall  presently  see.  If  we  now  take  a  thin 
slice  of  gypsum  or  sulphate  of  lime  (which  is  as  transparent 
as  glass)  about  one-hundredth  of  an  inch  thick,  and  holding 
it  between  the  polarizer  and  analyzer,  we  look  into  the  ana- 
lyzer so  as  to  see  the  black  spot  through  the  slice  of  gypsum, 
we  shall  be  surprised  to  find  that,  upon  turning  the  slice 
around,  there  are  four  positions  of  it,  distant  ninety  degrees, 
where  the  gypsum  will  have  the  most  brilliant  color — suppose 
red — restoring  the  light  of  the  vanished  flame,  and  that  in 
other  four  positions,  distant  forty-five  degrees  from  these, 
where  all  color  disappears,  and  the  black  spot  returns.  If  we 
now  fix  the  film  of  gypsum  in  the  position  where  it  gives  the 


LIGHT. 


469 


brightest  red,  and  make  the  analyzer  revolve  round  the  polar- 
ized ray  or  black  spot,  we  shall  find  two  positions,  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  degrees  distant,  where  the  red  will  be  seen 
upon  the  black  spot.  At  points  forty-five  degrees  distant 
from  these  the  red  will  disappear  and  the  black  spot  return. 
At  other  four  points,  distant  forty-five  degrees  from  them,  the 
gypsum  will  be  of  a  bright  green  color,  the  colors  getting 
paler  and  paler  as  the  analyzer  comes  to  the  position  which 
gives  the  black  spot.  Hence  we  see  that  when  the  slice  of 
gypsum  revolves,  only  one  color,  varying  with  the  thickness 
of  the  slice,  is  seen,  and  when  the  analyzer  alone  revolves, 
two  colors,  red  and  green,  or  blue  and  yellow,  are  seen  ;  and 
these  colors  are  always  the  pure  harmonic  colors.  These  two 
colors  make  pure  white  or  colorless  light,  and  they  are  ana- 
lyzed by  the  analyzer,  which,  in  one  position,  reflects  to  the 
eye  one  color,  viz.,  the  red,  but  is  not  able,  in  the  same  posi- 
tion, to  reflect  the  other  color,  namely,  the  green.  In  another 
position,  however,  it  reflects  \hzgreen  and  not  the  red,  so 
that  it  has  analyzed,  when  mixed,  the  two  colors,  red  and 
green,  which  compose  the  colorless  light  transmitted  by  the 
slice  of  gypsum. 

If,  instead  of  the  slice  of  gypsum,  we  place  in  the  appa- 
ratus plates  of  Iceland  spar,  quartz  and  beryl,  etc.,  and  make 
the  light  pass  along  the  axis  of  the  crystal,  we  shall  observe 
the  most  beautiful  phenomena  of  circular  and  highly-colored 
rings  with  a  black  cross ;  and  if  we  use  biaxal  crystals,  such 
as  arragonite  or  nitre,  we  shall  see  the  most  brilliantly-colored 
double  system  of  rings  along  the  principal  axis  of  the  crystal. 

Our  limited  space  will  not  permit  us  to  give  any  further 
account  of  the  wonderful  properties  of  polarized  light,  and 
of  the  almost  magical  structures  which  it  develops. 


470 

When  we  look  with  the  most  powerful  microscopes  at 
many  transparent  bodies,  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral,  we 
see  no  structure  whatever;  but  when  we  make  polarized  light 
pass  through  them,  it  emerges  with  certain  changes  in  its 
state,  produced  by  the  structure  of  the  body,  and  these 
changes  are  rendered  visible  by  the  analyzer  in  a  variety  of 
tints,  either  faint  or  brilliant. 

"  The  existence  of  solar  rays  accompanying  light  more  re- 
frangible than  the  violet  rays,  and  cognizable  by  their  chemi- 
cal effect  was  first  ascertained  by  Mr.  Ritter;  but  Dr.  Wol- 
laston  made  the  same  experiment  a  very  short  time  afterward, 
without  having  been  informed  of  what  had  been  done  on  the 
Continent.  These  rays  appear  to  extend  beyond  the  violet 
rays  of  the  prismatic  spectrum,  through  a  space  nearly  equal 
to  that  which  is  occupied  by  the  violet.  In  order  to  complete 
the  comparison  of  their  properties  with  those  of  visible  light, 
I  was  desirous  of  examining  the  effect  of  their  reflection  from 
a  thin  plate  of  air,  capable  of  producing  the  well-known  rings 
of  colors.  For  this  purpose  I  formed  an  image  of  the  rings, 
by  means  of  the  solar  microscope,  with  the  apparatus  which 
I  had  described  in  the  journals  of  the  Royal  Institution,  and 
I  threw  this  image  on  paper  dipped  in  a  solution  of  nitrate  of 
silver  placed  at  a  distance  of  about  nine  inches  from  the  mi- 
croscope. In  the  course  of  an  hour,  portions  of  three  dark 
rings  were  very  distinctly  visible,  much  smaller  than  the 
brightest  rings  of  the  colored  image,  and  coinciding  very 
nearly  in  their  dimensions  with  the  rings  of  violet  light  that 
appeared  upon  the  interposition  of  violet  glass.  I  thought 
the  dark  rings  were  a  little  smaller  than  the  violet  rings,  but 
the  distance  was  not  sufficiently  great  to  be  accurately  ascer- 
tained ;  it  miorht  be  as  much  as  one-thirtieth  or  one-fortieth 


LIGHT. 


471 


of  the  diameters,  but  not  greater.  It  is  the  less  surprising 
that  the  difference  should  be  so  small,  as  the  dimensions  of  the 
colored  rings  do  not  by  any  means  vary  at  the  violet  end  of 
the  spectrum  so  rapidly  as  at  the  red  end.  For  performing 
this  experiment  with  very  great  accuracy,  a  heliostat  would 
be  necessary,  since  the  motion  of  the  sun  causes  a  slight 
change  in  the  place  of  the  image ;  and  leather  impregnated 
with  muriate  of  silver  would  indicate  the  effect  with  greater 
delicacy.  The  experiment,  however,  in  its  present  state,  is 
sufficient  to  complete  the  analogy  of  the  invisible  with  the 
visible  rays,  and  to  show  that  they  are  equally  liable  to  the 
general  law  (of  interference)  which  is  the  principal  subject 
of  this  paper." 

The  beautiful  process  of  the  Calotype  or  Talbotype,  viewed 
as  a  whole,  was  the  undoubted  invention  of  Mr.  Henry  Fox 
Talbot.  As  a  new  art  which  gave  employment  to  thousands, 
he  brought  it  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  He  expended 
large  sums  of  money  in  obtaining  for  the  public  the  full  bene- 
fit of  his  invention,  and  toward  the  termination  of  his  patent, 
he  liberally  surrendered  to  photographic  amateurs  and  others 
all  the  rights  which  he  possessed,  with  the  one  exception  of 
taking  portraits  for  sale,  which  he  conveyed  to  others,  and 
which  he  was  bound  by  law  and  in  honor  to  secure  to  them. 
As  Mr.  Talbot  had  derived  no  pecuniary  benefit  from  his 
patent,  he  had  intended  to  apply  for  an  extension  of  it  to  the 
Privy  Council ;  but  the  art  had  been  so  universally  practiced, 
that  numerous  parties  were  interested  in  opposing  the  appli- 
cation, and  individuals  were  found  who  laid  claim  to  the  use 
of  some  of  the  chemical  materials  used  in  the  calotype,  and 
who  combined  with  others  to  reduce  the  patent,  and  thus  to 
prevent  the  possibility  of  its  renewal.  Although  we  are  con- 


472 


LIGHT. 


fident  that  a  jury  of  philosophers  in  any  part  of  the  world 
would  have  given  a  verdict  in  favor  of  Mr.  Talbot's  patent, 
taken  as  a  whole,  and  so  long  unchallenged,  yet  we  regret  to 
say  that  an  English  judge  and  jury  were  found  to  deprive 
him  of  his  right  and  transfer  it  to  the  public.  The  patrons 
of  science  and  art  stood  aloof  in  the  contest  and  none  of  our 
scientific  institutions,  and  no  intelligent  members  of  the 
Government,  came  forward  to  claim  from  the  State  a  national 
reward  to  Mr.  Talbot.  In  France,  the  Government,  by  the 
advice  of  M.  Arago,  acted  a  very  different  part  to  Niepce 
and  Daguerre,  the  inventors  of  the  Daguerreotype.  The  in- 
vention was  given  as  a  present  from  the  State  to  France,  and 
even  to  Europe,  and  Niepce  and  Daguerre  received  between 
them  an  annual  pension  of  six  hundred  and  thirty-three 
pounds. 

The  great  defect  in  Mr.  Talbot's  process,  not  in  his  patent, 
was,  that  paper  was  the  substance  upon  which  his  calotype 
pictures  were  to  be  taken.  He  early  saw  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  this  material  of  a  suitable  quality  for  photographic 
purposes,  and  he  made  many  attempts  to  remedy  the  evil, 
but  although  several  paper  makers  exerted  themselves  to  the 
utmost,  and  succeeded,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  manufacturing 
a  highly  improved  article,  yet  the  size  employed  and  various 
chemical  substances  used  in  the  process,  rendered  it  impossi- 
ble to  procure  paper  of  that  fineness  and  uniformity  of  text- 
ure which  the  advanced  state  of  the  art  required.  When  the 
artist  had  bestowed  the  greatest  pains  in  taking  a  negative 
picture,  and  had  taken  it  sometimes  two  or  three  times,  he 
often  found  his  own  labor  lost,  and  the  expectations  of  his 
sitters  disappointed. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  idea  occurred  to  M.  Niepce 


LIGHT  473 

St.  Victor,  Commandant  of  the  Louvre,  to  whom  photography 
owes  so  many  obligations,  to  reject  paper  altogether  for  nega- 
tives, and  to  use  a  film  of  albumen  spread  upon  glass.  To 
do  this  he  takes  five  ounces  of  the  whites  of  fresh  eggs, 
mixed  with  one  hundred  grains  of  iodide  of  potassium, 
twenty  grains  bromide  of  potassium,  and  ten  grains  of 
common  salt.  This  mixture  is  beaten  up  with  a  fork,  and 
after  resting  all  night  it  is  ready  in  the  morning  for  use — that 
is,  it  is  ready  to  spread  into  a  uniform  film  upon  glass,  and 
employed  instead  of  paper  for  taking  negative  photographs. 
The  great  advantage  of  the  albumen  process  is  that  the 
film  is  perfectly  smooth  and  homogeneous,  and  may  be  ob- 
tained of  a  very  large  size.  Its  defect,  however,  is  its  want 
of  sensibility,  so  that  it  can  be  employed  only  for  statues  and 
landscapes.  It  seems  to  have  been  very  little  used  in  Eng- 
land, but  has  been  brought  to  perfection  by  Messrs.  Ross  & 
Thomson,  of  Edinburgh,  who,  to  use  the  words  of  Mr.  Hunt, 
"  have  been  eminently  successful  operators  with  it,  many  of 
their  pictures,  which  are  of  a  large  size,  exhibited  more  artis- 
tic effect  than  is  obtained  by  any  other  photographers.  Some 
of  the  positives  produced  are  very  fine.  At  the  last  meeting 
of  the  British  Association  in  Edinburgh,  these  gentlemen  ex- 
hibited some  positive  images  on  glass  plate.  These  were 
backed  up  with  plaster  of  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  exalting 
the  effects,  which  were  exceedingly  delicate  and  beautiful. 
We  have  now  before  us  six  of  these  magnificent  photo- 
graphs, fifteen  and  a  half  inches  by  fifteen  and  a  half  inches, 
representing  Edinburgh  from  the  Calton  Hill,  interior  of 
Holyrood  Chapel,  Melrose  Abbey  in  two  aspects,  the  Golden 
Gate  of  St.  Andrew's  Cathedral,  and  the  north  doorway  of 
Dunfermline  Cathedral,  Benan,  and  Benvenu,  and  we  have 


474  LIGHT- 

no  hesitation  in  saying  that  they  surpass  everything  that  has 
been  done  in  this  process. 

Owing  to  the  great  length  of  time  required  to  take  a  pho- 
tograph in  albumen,  various  attempts  have  been  made  to 
render  it  more  sensitive  or  to  obtain  a  more  sensitive  material 
equally  uniform  and  manageable.  Mr.  Hunt  had,  in  1884, 
recommended  the  use  of  the  fluorides,  and  M.  B.  Everard 
has  lately  employed  the  fluoride  of  potassium  along  with  the 
iodide  of  potassium  as  a  means  of  obtaining  instantaneous 
images  on  albumen.  Mr.  Hunt  has  found  that  the  image 
appears  immediately  on  exposure  in  the  camera,  and  antici- 
pates great  advantages  from  the  use  of  the  fluorides. 

For  the  same  reason  M.  Niepce  St.  Victor  has  recently 
published  a  process,  in  which,  in  place  of  albumen,  he  em- 
ploys seventy  grains  of  starch  rubbed  down  in  seventy  grains 
of  water,  and  then  mixed  with  three  or  four  ounces  more  of 
water.  After  five  and  a  half  grains  of  iodide  of  potassium 
are  added  the  whole  is  boiled  till  the  starch  is  properly  dis- 
solved. It  is  then  laid  upon  a  plate  of  glass  and  is  said  to 
give  tablets  of  great  sensibility.  The  serum  of  milk  and 
gelatine  and  other  substances  have  also  been  proposed  and 
used  to  obtain  a  surface  more  transparent  than  paper  and 
more  sensitive  than  albumen,  but  most  of  them  have  been 
abandoned,  at  least  for  portraits,  since  the  introduction  of 
collodion  by  Archer  in  1850. 

The  discovery  and  use  of  collodion  is  doubtless  the  great- 
est improvement  that  has  been  made  in  photography.  Collo- 
dion is  a  limpid  fluid  of  the  color  of  sherry,  and  is  made  by 
dissolving  gun-cotton  in  ether  containing  a  little  alcohol. 
Gun-cotton  is  made  by  mixing  seventy  grains  of  fine  selected 
cotton  with  water,  nitre,  and  sulphuric  acid  in  the  proportions 


LIGHT.  475 

of  three,  four,  and  five  ounces.  After  the  cotton  has  been 
washed  in  this  bath  by  stirring  it  with  two  glass  rods,  it  is 
taken  put,  well  washed  with  water  to  remove  every  trace  of 
acid  and  hung  up  to  dry.  Fifteen  grains  of  gun-cotton,  thus 
prepared,  is  placed  in  a  mixture  of  nine  fluid  ounces  of  recti- 
fied sulphuric  ether  with  one  ounce  of  alcohol  sixty  degrees 
over-proof.  The  cotton  will  be  almost  wholly  dissolved  with 
the  exception  of  some  fibres,  which  will  fall  to  the  bottom. 
The  clear  solution  or  collodion  when  poured  off  is  ready  to 
be  iodized  by  adding  to  it  a  certain  quantity,  to  be  deter- 
mined by  experiment,  of  an  alcoholic  solution  of  the  iodide 
of  silver  and  the  iodide  of  potassium.  A  glass  plate,  well 
cleansed  from  grease,  is  coated  with  a  thin  film  of  collodion, 
obtained  by  pouring  a  small  quantity  on  the  plate,  and  run- 
ning it  off  by  one  corner  into  a  bottle.  This  film,  solidified 
by  the  evaporation  of  the  ether,  is  now  excited  by  a  solution 
of  thirty  grains  of  nitrate  of  silver  in  one  ounce  of  water.  It 
is  placed  in  the  camera,  and  the  image  developed  and  fixed 
by  processes,  which  we  cannot,  of  course,  here  find  room  to 
detail. 

Collodion  may  be  prepared  from  paper,  flax,  the  pith  of  the 
elder,  and  many  other  vegetable  substances.  In  whatever 
way  it  is  made,  the  name  of  pyroxylin  is  given  to  it.  Lignine, 
or  the  true  substance  of  wood,  is  convertible  into  a  substance 
analogous  to  true  gun-cotton.  Lignme,  combined  with  strong 
nitric  acid,  forms  a  substance  called  xyloidide.  The  prepara- 
tions of  collodion  by  R.  W.  Thomas  are  in  much  esteem,  and 
are  sold  under  the  name  of  Xylo-iodide  of  Silver. 

Although  M.  Btot,  in  1840,  considered  it  as  an  illusion  to 
expect  photographs  having  the  color  of  the  objects  which  they 
represent,  yet  a  certain  advance,  and  one  of  some  importance, 


476  LIGHT. 

has  been  made  to  this  result.  In  a  former  article  we  referred 
to  the  attempts  of  M.  Claudet  and  Sir  John  Herschel  to  copy 
the  colors  of  nature.  Mr.  Hunt  "  procured  colored  images,  not 
merely  impressions  of  the  rays  of  the  spectrum,  but  copies 
in  the  camera  of  colored  objects."  But  the  most  important 
results  have  been  obtained  by  M.  Edmund  Becquerel,  and  M. 
Niepce  St.  Victor  of  Paris. 

In  November,  1884,  M.  Edmund  Becquerel  exhibited  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  "  a  photochromatic  image  of  the  solar 
spectrum,  and  colored  photographs  obtained  in  the  camera 
obscura."  These  photographs  were  on  daguerreotype  plates; 
c.nd  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  the  colors  of  the  spectrum, 
and  those  of  natural  objects  were  obtained  by  his  process. 
Unfortunately,  however,  no  method  of  fixing  them  could  be 
found,  and  the  colors  disappeared  very  quickly  when  exposed 
to  light,  though  they  could  be  preserved  for  a  long  time  in 
the  dark. 

M.  Niepce  St.  Victor  has  pursued  this  subject  with  more 
success  than  his  predecessors.  Mr.  Hunt  has  examined  pic- 
tures of  his  on  metallic  plates  "  in  which  every  color  of  the 
original  was  most  faithfully  represented,"  but  they  eventually 
faded  into  one  uniform  reddish  tint ;  and  M,  Niepce  St.  Victor 
tells  us  that  he  has  made  a  hundred  attempts  to  fix  these 
helio-ckromes,  as  he  calls  them,  without  the  slightest  success. 

Important  as  these  researches  are,  M.  Niepce  St.  Victor 
has  published  two  "  Memoirs  "  on  a  new  action  of  light,  which 
has  excited  much  interest  in  the  scientific  world.  Having  ex- 
posed for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  the  sun's  direct  rays  an  en- 
graving which  had  been  kept  several  days  in  the  dark,  he 
applied  the  engraving  to  a  sheet  of  sensitive  paper,  and  after 
twenty-four  hours'  contact,  he  obtained  a  negative  picture  of 


LIGHT.  4/7 

the  engraving.  If  the  negative,  taken  from  a  dark  place, 
where  it  has  been  for  several  days,  be  applied  to  a  sheet  of 
the  sensitive  paper,  without  exposure  to  the  direct  rays  of 
the  sun,  no  negative  picture  is  produced.  Wood,  ivory,  gold- 
beater's skin,  parchment,  and  even  the  living  skin,  struck  by 
light,  will  give  a  negative  picture ;  but  metals  and  enamels 
will  not.  If  a  film  of  mica,  glass,  or  rock  crystal  is  placed 
between  the  engraving  and  the  sensitive  paper  no  negative 
picture  will  be  got ;  but  if  the  engraving  is  covered  with  a 
stratum  of  collodion  or  gelatine,  the  picture  will  be  obtained. 
If  the  distance  between  the  engraving  and  the  sensitive  paper 
is  only  three  millimetres,  or  one-eighth  of  an  inch,  a  picture 
will  be  produced  ;  and  if  the  lines  of  the  engraving  are  strong, 
a  distance  of  a  centimetre  will  not  prevent  it.  If  we  take  an 
opaque  tube,  shut  up  at  one  end  and  lined  with  paper,  and 
expose  the  open  end  for  an  hour  to  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun 
and  if  at  the  end  of  twenty-four  hours  we  apply  the  open  end 
of  the  tube  to  a  piece  of  sensitive  paper,  we  shall  obtain  a 
negative  image  of  the  opening.  If  the  tube  be  hermetically 
sealed  after  exposure  to  the  sun's  rays,  it  will  preserve  for  a 
long  time  the  power  of  acting  upon  sensitive  paper.  M. 
Niepce  St.  Victor  placed  a  sheet  of  white  paper  that  had 
been  in  the  dark  in  the  camera,  where  it  continued  to  receive 
for  three  hours  an  image  brilliantly  illuminated  by  the  sun. 
When  taken  out  and  applied  to  a  sheet  of  sensitive  paper,  it 
reproduced  very  visibly,  in  twenty-four  hours,  the  original 
image  in  the  camera  obscura. 

In  his  second  Memoir  our  author  exhibits  this  "  persistent 
activity"  or  "storing  up  "  of  light,  as  he  calls  it,  in  another 
interesting  experiment.  He  places  a  glass  or  paper  negative 
upon  a  sheet  of  paper  that  has  been  several  days  in  the  dark, 


478 


LIGHT. 


and  after  a  sufficient  exposure  to  the  sun's  rays,  he  takes  out 
the  paper  in  the  dark,  and  develops  the  picture  by  a  solution 
of  nitrate  of  silver,  and  fixes  it  by  merely  washing  it  in  pure 
water.  In  order  to  obtain  a  picture  more  quickly  and  more 
vigorously  developed,  he  impregnates  th^  sheet  of  paper,  till 
it  becomes  of  a  pale,  straw  yellow  color,  with  an  aqueous 
solution  of  nitrate  of  uranium,  "  which  admits  in  a  higher  de- 
gree than  the  paper  the  luminous  action  of  storing  up  with 
the  persistent  luminous  activity."  The  picture,  when  taken, 
as  before,  is  fixed  by  simple  immersion  in  pure  water  till  the 
salt  of  uranium  is  completely  removed.  Thus  fixed  the  pic- 
tures resist  the  energetic  action  of  a  boiling  solution  of  cyan- 
uret  of  potash ;  and  we  may,  therefore,  hope  that  they  will 
be  indestructible  by  time.  This  great  discovery  of  M. 
Niepce  St.  Victor  will  be  received  with  surprise  by  the  sci- 
entific world,  who  regard  light  and  all  its  chemical  influences 
as  the  effect  of  simple  motion.  When  light  has  been  stored 
for  days,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  it  can  afterward 
begin  to  vibrate  and  perform  all  its  former  functions. 

Although  M.  Niepce  St.  Victor's  experiment  on  the  per- 
manence of  the  nitrate  of  uranium  photographs  is  very  inter- 
esting, yet  time  only  can  solve  the  problem  of  their  absolute 
indestructibility;  and  we  must  continue  to  practice  the  art 
with  all  the  fears  and  misgivings  of  the  past.  It  is  fortunate, 
however,  that  several  processes  have  been  invented  by  which 
photographs  can  be  rendered  as  permanent  as  engravings 
and  multiplied  to  any  extent.  The  best  of  these  processes 
is  the  photo-galvanographic  one  of  Mr.  Paul  Pretsch,  who, 
after  his  .right  by  patent,  established  a  company  at  Islington, 
and  has  published,  in  a  series  of  numbers,  magnificent  speci- 
mens of  the  art.  Solutions  of  glue  in  solutions  of  nitrate  of 


LIGHT.  479 

silver,  io  HJe  of  potassium,  and  bichromate  of  potash  are 
mixed  according  to  a  rule  and  spread  like  albumen  over  the 
glass  plate.  A  photograph  or  engraving  is  placed  on  the 
prepared  plate  and  a  negative  taken  in  sunlight.  The  glass 
is  then  placed  in  water,  with  a  little  alcohol  and  the  darkened 
spots  are  rendered  soluble,  wrhile  the  other  parts  are  insol- 
uble, so  that  in  a  few  minutes  we  have  a  picture  represented 
not  only  by  light  and  shadow,  but  by  the  unequal  thickness 
of  the  gelatine  on  the  glass.  When  the  plate  is  dry,  soft 
gutta-percha  is  pressed  upon  the  picture  until  it  hardens. 
The  gutta-percha  has  consequently  an  image  the  reverse  of 
the  first.  After  rubbing  it  over  with  bronze  powder  or  black 
lead,  it  is  placed  in  a  solution  of  sulphate  of  copper,  and  an 
electrotype  plate  taken  from  it,  in  the  usual  way,  with  a  vol- 
taic battery.  From  this  plate  others  can  be  readily  taken, 
and,  as  in  ordinary  copper-plate  printing,  thousands  of  copies 
can  be  thrown  off.  "  By  this  process,"  says  Mr.  Hunt,  "  pic- 
tures, in  which  the  most  delicate  details  are  very  faithfully 
preserved,  and  the  nice  graduations  in  light  and  shadow 
maintained  in  all  their  beauty,  are  now  printed  from  the  elec- 
trotype plate  obtained  from  the  photograph.  The  process  of 
photo-galvanography  is  evidently  destined  to  take  a  very  high 
position  as  a  means  of  preserving  the  beauties  of  nature  and  art. 
In  miniature  painting  it  has  taken  a  new  profession.  Mr. 
Duppa,  distinguished  artist,  after  making  his  photograph 
transparent,  paints  with  oil  colors  on  the  back  of  the  photo- 
graph, so  that  he  never  can  take  away  the  original  likeness. 
Mr.  Dickinson,  on  the  contrary,  and  others,  paint  upon  the 
photograph  itself;  and,  at  a  trifling  risk  of  affecting  the  like- 
ness, they  have  the  power  of  correcting  defects,  both  in  form 
and  expression,  which  exist  in  almost  every  sun-picture. 


48o 

To  the  landscape  and  historical  painter  photography  has 
proved  an  invaluable  assistant.  Messrs.  Ross  &  Thomson 
published,  some  time  ago,  the  most  beautiful  photographs  for 
foregrounds,  taken  while  growing  at  the  foot  of  rocks  and 
trees.  Of  these,  the  ferns,  the  dock  leaves,  the  fox-glove,  and 
the  nettle  are  beyond  all  praise ;  but,  charming  as  these  are, 
they  are  surpassed  by  two  on  a  larger  scale,  which  have  re- 
cently appeared  under  names  of  "  The  Quiet  Corner "  and 
"  The  Dykeside."  These  photographs,  fifteen  and  one-half 
by  fifteen  and  one-half  inches,  full  of  the  poetry  of  vegetable 
life,  teem  with  wild  plants  of  the  most  picturesque  and  lovely 
forms,  and  rich  in  the  variety  and  luxuriance  of  leaf  and 
stem.  Though  devoid  of  fragrance  and  of  color,  they  allure 
us  to  the  cooling  fountain  which  waters  them.  They  tempt 
us  to  nestle  in  the  little  rocky  hollow  which  they  adorn,  and 
to  weep  with  human  sympathies  amid  creations  that  are  fated 
but  to  bloom  and  die. 

The  most  important  application  of  photography  has  cer- 
tainly been  to  the  stereoscope,  not  only  in  reference  to  art, 
but  to  the  great  purposes  of  education  and  to  the  illustration 
of  works  on  every  branch  of  knowledge.  The  surface  of  the 
moon  has  been  drawn  with  singular  beauty.  The  eclipses  of 
the  sun  and  moon  have  been  delineated,  and  various  other 
astronomical  phenomena  which  the  observer  could  not  other- 
wise have  recorded.  But,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  curious 
applications  of  the  art  has  been  the  microscopic  portraits,  as 
executed  with  such  skill  by  Mr.  Dancer,  of  Manchester. 
Some  of  these  are  so  small  that  ten  thousand  could  be  in- 
cluded in  a  square  inch,  and  yet,  when  magnified,  the  pictures 
have  all  the  smoothness  and  vigor  of  ordinary  photographs. 


IOAN  DEPT. 


id     196555 


. 8 1972  1 


.General  L 


